The Fate of Two
by Morinoka159
Summary: Everyone knows the tale of Naruto. But what happens to the tale when the Kyuubi isn't released on Naruto's birthday? But is instead released two and a half months later. At a party in the Namikaze-Uzumaki estate, a masked man appears and chaos follows. Complications with the seal, the most difficult decision possible, and a twist in fate. OOC, changed mind on bashing, so no bashing
1. A Party to Remember

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, sadly that right belongs to Kisimoto-sensei. But, one can dream...

 **Warnings:** This is a NaruHina fanfic. I have shipped them since day one! As such, there may be a bit of bashing on other characters. I am open to suggestions as to the pairings of other main characters. There are only 2 cannon pairings that I am keeping no questions asked. NaruHina and ShikaTema. As for the rest, I may keep cannon pairings if that is what the readers want. Just don't expect it to happen over night. This fic may take a very long time to complete. I will try to update at least once or twice a month but life happens. Also, this is my first fic, so please be considerate if you leave a review. I will read them all and try to respond in some manor for as long as I continue this fic. So without further introduction, here is my first fic.

 _Chapter 1: A Party to Remember_

Everyone knows the tale behind the story of a life time. A young, yellow-haired orphan grows up knowing only the darker side of humanity. He is scorned and ridiculed for something outside of his control, something he isn't even aware of. But despite the cold looks, the dark alley ambushes, and the beatings he gets every year on his birthday, this young boy grows up to be a kind-hearted man with a unique ability to make friends out of his enemies wherever he goes. His name is Naruto Uzumaki.

However, do not mistake this as a simple retelling of the same tale. Instead, we turn back the clock and witness these events with a twist. What happens to our favorite knuckle-headed Jinchuuriki if we were to twist fate into a new direction? What if the release of the Kyuubi didn't happen on October 10th, said boy's birthday? Well... Let's find out together, shall we?

 _October 10_

It was a calm night in Konoha, not unlike most nights. There was a gentle breeze in the mild air. The streets were nearly empty of all but the night personnel, such as the village's Anbu Black Ops. Not a single thing wrong this night. At least to the untrained eye. Any Shinobi worth their rank could see that these Anbu were tense. Though the reason for said tension will remain unknown.

On the West side of the village, past the edge of the forest on the inside of the village wall was a barrier set in place, and maintained, by no less than 10 Anbu Black Ops. Inside the barrier were a man and two women. The man was easy enough to recognize with his long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He wore the standard Jonin uniform of blue pants with black ninja sandals, a blue shirt and a dark green flak jacket. Over his uniform he wore his white, ankle length jacket with "Yondaime" written down the back.

The man was leaning over a woman laying on the ground with her blood red hair all around her in a tangled mess and her blue-almost-purple eyes glazed over with pain. His hands were over her exposed, and obviously pregnant, stomach. Or rather, his hands were over the Eight Trigram Seal that was _on_ her stomach as she was screaming out in pain. Her scream could not be heard outside the barrier though, as the barrier had sound suppression seals in place.

The final woman was at the red-head's lower half comforting her and trying to ensure the birth goes smoothly and without complications. She had brown hair and ebony eyes. Her eyes held a sense of authority, which is appropriate for many reasons. The first being her skills as an accomplished med-nin. Second is her rank as a Jonin of Konoha. Third and perhaps most impressive, though she would deny it as being important, is that she is the wife of the now retired Sandaime Hokage. To be fair, she is proud of her husband and his accomplishments, but she is rather stubborn and refuses to be recognized for anything outside her own accomplishments.

 _An hour later_

After a long and intensive labor it's finally over and the blond haired man goes through a long series of hand signs before placing his hands over the seal and it wavers, repairing the damage caused by the Kyuubi within as it attempted to escape during the one chance that the seal was weakened. It is not known by many, but a female Jinchuuriki's seal is weakened by the intense stress caused on her body by childbirth. As such, the entity within can use this weakened state to escape, killing the host.

After the seal is repaired the Anbu release the barrier. The silence of the night is instantly disturbed by the cries of an infant. Biwako, the brown haired woman, looks at the young couple in front of her and says, "Congratulations Kushina, Minato. It's a healthy baby boy!"

Exhausted, Kushina tries to lean up, only to have Minato stop her. "Not yet," he says. "You're too exhausted from the ordeal you've just been through." He gazed lovingly into her eyes. "You rest," he said. "I'll bring him to you."

She nodded ever so slightly. "Okay, Min-kun," Se said. Clearly exhausted. She laid back down, waiting for Minato to bring her their son. Biwako handed him to Minato only after saying, "Normally, the mother is the first to hold her child." She glared at him as an anime style sweat drop appeared on the back of his head. "But given the circumstances I believe you are right." She turned to Kushina. "I'm sorry Kushina-chan, but he is right. You do need rest after what you just went through. From what I understand, even Mito-sama was bedridden for a few days after she went through this." She turned back to Minato and handed him his son. "So what is his name?"

Minato turned to Kushina and they both said together, "Naruto."

 _December 27_

In the largest manor of the Hyuuga compound, a woman with dark purple hair and light lavender eyes with no pupil was laying down panting. Her midwife was on one side trying to help control her breathing. Her husband, and head of the Hyuuga clan, was on the other with concern clear on his normally expressionless face.

Hiashi spoke up, "Are you sure there's nothing I can do?" he asked the midwife. For the first time in his life, he was feeling useless as he saw the pain in his beloved's eyes.

"No, Hiashi-sama. Not at this time." She spoke cautiously and respectfully. She was a midwife, and she was of the Hyuuga Branch Family. As such, any complications with the pregnancy, labor, or birthing could be blamed on her for neglecting her duties. She wasn't, but that never really mattered when the Main Family was involved.

She was about to say something else when she was cut off by the loud, painful screams of labor. Hiashi looks down at his wife saying, "I'm here for you, Hitomi-koi."

"I know," she gasps between breaths. "I know." This time she says it to herself before gasping in pain as another contraction blinds her to anything but the pain. She can faintly hear her midwife saying something to her, but for the life of her she can't figure out what it is as more spasms of pain cause her to lose herself in the screams.

The midwife, activating her Byakugan, can tell that she is fully dilated. "Okay, it's time. Push!"

 _An hour later_

The midwife handed the little pink to her mother first, then to her father. "Congratulations, you have a healthy heiress." She bowed and retreated from the room so as not to intrude on the new parents.

"Hinata, that's what we shall name our daughter."

"Hai," Hiashi said in agreement with his wife. "Hinata, a sunny place in our lives. It fits perfectly.

 _January 1_

5 days later it was approaching sunset at the Uzumaki estate. Kushina had little Naruto in her arms as Minato finished the final preparations for their New Years party.

The guests began showing up one group at a time. All close friends. First was Kakashi, Minato's only surviving student of the Third Shinobi World War. "Hello Minato-Sensei, Kushina-Sama." He bowed to each as he spoke to them. Then, seeing the little bundle of blue he said, "Hello Naruto-kun. It's good to finally meet you." After which he gave his signature eye smile, his right eye being the only one showing. His Haiti-ate (Forehead Protector) over his left and his signature face mask covering his lower face completely. His silver white hair, which would normally be considered abnormal on a fourteen year old, was less messy than normal. He was wearing a black kimono with white accents and the Hatake clan crest on the back. Though he is the last of his clan, and they were not a very larch clan to begin with, he was still proud to wear it.

"Kakashi, this is a party among friends," Minato said. "You don't have to use the honorifics. Please, relax tonight."

Kushina then spoke up, "And yes, this is Naru-chan. I'm glad you could make it. The others should be arriving soon. Have fun tonight." She smiled gently down at him in a way only a mother can. The smile made his heart ache a little as his thoughts turned to his late teammates whom would always be in his heart.

"Thank you." He said as he entered the manor.

Kakashi went to a table and stood in a corner, pulling out the latest book from Jiraiya-Sama titled "Tale of a Gutsy Ninja" and started reading until the guests arrived. It only took a few minutes for the next guest to show. After knocking three times Minato and Kushina both went to the door, with Naruto in hand and greeted their next guest.

The door swung open with Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha standing there with a 5 ½ month old Sasuke in Mikoto's arms. Kushina immediately greeted one of her two closest friends.

"Mikoto!" She said giving her a one armed hug so as not to squish Sasuke or Naruto. "Awe! Kawaii! Sasuke-kun is so cute!" She nearly squeeled.

Mikoto blushed slightly. "You're one to talk," she exclaims. "You're Naruto-kun there looks so adorable with those birthmarks on his cheeks! I hope they grow up to be good friends."

"Of course they will," Minato exclaims. "It's good to see you both.

"It was most kind of you to invite us, Yondaime-Sama," said Fugaku.

"Uh-uh, none of that. This is a party to celebrate the new year with friends. You don't need to use the honorifics," Minato immediately said. "It'll be hard enough to get Kakashi to stop with the honorifics, I'd rather not have to deal with more," he chuckled.

"Of course, Yondai- I mean Minato... -san?" Fugaku struggled to drop honorifics all together.

Minato sweat dropped anime style. "I suppose that's the best I'll get, huh?" So he gave up and invited them inside. Before he could close the door he saw more guests arriving, so he simply waited at the door to greet them instead of closing it just to answer it again.

The next guests to arrive were the Hyuuga's. First was Hiashi, followed by his wife who he was told just gave birth a few days ago. She was holding a pink bundle. After her was Hiashi's twin brother Hizashi, who was in turn followed by his son Neji. Neji was a year and a half old and was staring around curiously at everything.

"Hiashi, Hitomi ( **A/N: yes, I am borrowing the name from another fanfic because it fits so well. I don't remember which fic.** ), Hizashi, welcome to the party," Minato said. "And who is this little guy here behind you, Hizashi?"

"This is my son, Neji." As Hizashi spoke, Neji hid ever so slightly behind him.

Kushina spoke next. "Hey there," She said in a motherly tone. "No need to be shy."

Neji hid further behind Hizashi, causing everyone to either laugh a little, or at least chuckle under their breath in the case of the two brothers. Hitomi took a step forward and greeted Kushina next.

"Thank you for inviting us," Hitomi started, "the celebrations of the clan are just to formal and stuffy for my taste."

"It's our pleasure. By the way, who's this little pink bundle in your arms?" Kushina asked. "I knew you had a child, but I was never told anything else." She gave Hitomi a firm look, but in a playful way. Hitomi knew immediately that it was not a serious glare, but she apologized none the less.

"Gomennasai, Kushina-chan. I would have come sooner, but with clan duties and your own unique circumstances I could not. This is my daughter Hinata." Hitomi said. "Gomen for not introducing you sooner."

Kushina chuckled. "There is no need to apologize for that. I understand. I'm from a clan myself. So I know the duties that go along with such a position." She then looks down at the newborn. "Hello Hinata-chan," She said in a sweet tone, "I hope you grow up just like your mother. Kind, confident, caring, and beautiful. Though, you could do without Hitomi's over apologizing nature." She laughs slightly at this, causing Hitomi to to blush at this.

"Anyways, welcome to the party. We have a table with snacks and refreshments in the dining room. The _real_ food is in the kitchen. There's enough to feed an army of Akimichi," Minato said boldly. "So don't worry about taking too much. The first few guests to arrive are in the living room." Minato motions them in as the next guests arrive.

The next half hour or so went by like this, with Minato and Kushina, with Naruto in her arms, greeting each guest as they arrive in a friendly and open manner. The guests arrived in this order: First was the head of the Nara clan, Shikaku, and his wife, along with their son Shikamaru in her arms. Next were the Akimichi clan head Chouza, with his wife and son, Choji. Then were the Yamanaka clan head Inoichi, his wife, and his daughter Ino.

Of course none of these children will remember the party, but that didn't stop all the new parents from enjoying the introductions of their newborns. Next came Minato's predecessor, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage. After him came a few of the civilians that were friends of the family. Teuchi and his daughter Ayame. A few of the friendlier members of the council were invited, though it was no surprise that the only one that actually showed up was one of the civilians as all of the Shinobi on the council were already present at the party. This civilian was in charge of commerce in Konoha, and owned a large number of stores, including a few respected ninja equipment stores.

 **A/N: I will not be naming this civilian council member. No it is not Mebuki Haruno.**

The party was pleasant for all those present. This food was good, and just as Minato said, there was enough for everyone to go around, even with the Akimichi clan members present. Just before midnight Minato stood in front of everyone asking for their attention.

"I just want to thank everyone for coming tonight to celebrate the coming of the new year. I goes without saying that all of those present are a good friend to either myself of Kushina. As such, I'll keep this speech short." Most of those present chuckled at this, knowing that Minato hated public speeches and formal announcements. "This past year has blessed many of us with new additions for our clans and families. So, here's to the future. May our children grow up happy and my their childhood bliss last as long as possible." Everyone understood exactly what he meant. They all grew up too fast during the war. None so as much as Kakashi, who made Jonin before he even hit 12 years old during the last war. "And so with this passing of the new year, I make it my resolution to ensure the peace and tranquility of Konoha." The applause started up right as he finished. His timing was so accurate that as soon as the last person joined in the applause, the fireworks shot into the sky.

The fireworks lasted a half hour, and they were the best Konoha had seen in years. As the fireworks died down and the guests had the last of their drinks, they began to leave. The last guests in the estate were the first to arrive. Kakashi, the Uchiha family, and the Hyuuga family were the last ones in the estate. Fugaku and Hiashi were discussing the stability of their clans and proposing joint endeavors to ensure a longstanding alliance within the clans. Hitomi, Mikoto, and Kushina were talking about their children and their plans for the future. This includes future play dates for their kids as they grow up. Minato and Kakashi were standing to the side watching everything with content looks on their faces. Or at least that is what people would think about Kakashi, as no one could actually see his face except for one eye.

The room went deathly silent for a moment when everyone heard a pained gasp and a glass shattering. All eyes turned to see Kushina with an expression of pure agony on her face as she clutched her stomach. Minato was at her side in an instant with a flash of yellow. She collapsed to her knees and open her mouth to let out a scream, but no sound came out. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed, unconcious.

Everyone present was on full alert. The Shinobi present all formed a circle facing outwards around Minato and Kushina as he began going through a set of hand signs and a blue-green glow surrounded his hands. As he moved his hands over her unconscious body, he spat one word that took everyone by surprise. "Poison."

He worked to remove the poison from her system when everyone turned inward in surprise as a man in a black cloak and a white mask with black accents and a single eye hole on his right side appeared in the center standing over Minato and Kushina. No one moved an inch, as the man had the newborn Naruto in his arms with a Kunai at the baby's throat. "Hello Yondaime," he said in a deep and distorted voice. "I've come for the Kyuubi. Hand her to me and no harm will come to your child."

 **A/N: Okay, okay, I know some of you probably hate me for ending in a cliffhanger, but It just felt like the right thing to do considering this first chapter—as well as chapter two—are the prologue.**

 **Also this was the first of hopefully many chapters to come. It goes against cannon more than what I had initially intended, but once I started writing it just felt right. I hope everyone enjoys my work. If so, please review. If not, review and let me know what you didn't like. This will be an evolving story. As such, it will be very much affected by the reviews. Also, I could use a beta reader if anyone is interested. As I said above, only two cannon pairings are guaranteed. Though how they happen will be different. Let me know in the reviews what other pairings you'd like to see. This is not strictly a romance title, but it is definitely a key part.**

 **If this is in any way similar to another fanfic, it is purely coincidence. I have taken inspiration from others, but I did not copy anything. This is doubly true for what is to come in the next chapter. I was doing something I had never seen in all the fanfics I read. It wasn't until I was nearly done planning the first few chapters that I realized that my idea was already used by another author, however, said author used this idea in a completely different way. Thus, my idea is still original. At least in my opinion. And yes, I am being vague on purpose. If anyone has any guesses as to why, I let me know and I will tell you how close you are. Ja ne.**


	2. A Fight for the Future

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though, I suppose I could start a petition to send to Kishimoto-Sensei? Could that work?**

 _Chapter 2: A Fight for the Future_

Everyone froze in place as a killing intent comparable to a tailed beast filled the room. The masked man looked at Minato, letting loose his own killing intent at him to neutralize Minato's. With everyone free from the killing intent the masked figure spoke again.

"Everyone out except your dear Yondaime and his wife here. Otherwise my wrist might just slip." His kunai pressed against the side of the babies neck where the primary artery is. It wasn't enough to wake the child, but it was certainly enough to make him stir.

"Do it, please." Minato spoke in a forced calm that hid none of his emotions. Everyone in the room could feel his anger like a glacier carving a mountain side. Everyone complied.

"Stay in the courtyard and stay quiet," the masked man commanded. No one disobeyed. If there was one way to gain the cooperation of Shinobi, it was to gain leverage over their leader. He had done just that. "Now then, you set your wife before me and I will give you back your precious bundle of joy." He spoke in a tone that could be called boredom if not for the situation.

Minato complied, his eyes never leaving the masked man. "You won't get away with this. There is no where that I cannot find you." He secretly marked his wife with one of the seals necessary to use the jutsu that made him famous. The mark faded, as was intended. What no one but Minato and Kushina knew was that the markings would never disappear from any surface that he marked.

"Now step back," The masked man said. Minato did as instructed. What else could he do? Then, the man tossed Naruto towards the door as Minato bolted after him in an insane burst of speed. He caught Naruto as gently as he could, but it was too late. Naruto woke up and started crying loudly. Minato flashed outside in a burst of yellow light as the **Haraishin no Jutsu** transported him to the courtyard.

He handed Naruto to Hitomi, who Kushina had named as Naruto's godmother. Then he disappeared in another flash of yellow, startling many before they even knew what just happened.

"I don't know who that man is, but he chose the wrong person to try to threaten tonight." Hiashi spoke with the calm that only a Hyuuga could have in a situation like this.

Fugaku spoke up, "I almost feel bad for the fool. Almost."

 _Somewhere in the Land of Fire_

Minato arrived in a flash of yellow as the masked man had just finished a string of hand signs. " **Four Pillar Binding Crucifixion** ," he yelled as Kushina's unconscious form was lifted into the air between four stone pillars with a sealing matrix spread across them. The matrix was so complex, Minato couldn't even begin to guess at it's origin. This confused the seal master for only a moment before he launched into action.

 _Konoha: Thirty Minutes Later_

 **(A/N: The Kyuubi attack on Konoha happens as in cannon up until the point when Minato and Kushina begin to seal the fox.)**

The Anbu Black Ops, the Sandaime Hokage, and all members of the crashed new year party arrive at a barrier just as the Kyuubi attempts to pierce Kushina with his claw while she is on the ground. No one is sure exactly what happened out here, but it is clear that a landscape changing battle took place. The barrier flickers as Minato steps in front of the fox and erects another barrier around both himself and his prone wife.

After a moment, the outer barrier falls and the group rush in to aide their Hokage. Before anyone can do anything however, Kushina gets up from whatever had her on the ground and uses her bloodline limit, **Adamantine Chains**. This paralyzes the large fox just long enough for the group approaching to arrive.

"I'm sorry everyone," Kushina says. "But I will only be able to restrain the fox for about a minute. Minato has a plan, but it must be done now while I'm still alive or it won't work. Please," She looks at Hitomi. "Please take care of our son?"

Everyone was shocked at her words, her appearance only adding to their astonishment. She look bad, very bad. She had dark circles under her eyes making it seem as if she hadn't slept in a year. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. She had very little strength, making it a wonder that she could even move at all, let alone restrain the strongest of the tailed beasts.

Every face had a solemn expression. Hitomi and Mikoto had tears in their eyes, barely held back by the strength of their will. Hitomi nodded to Kushina, not trusting herself to speak.

Minato spoke next in a sad but commanding voice. "Bring Naruto to me. The only way to stop the fox is to seal it within a human vessel."

To say that those gathered here were shocked would be a gross understatement. They knew that the only way to stop is was to seal it, but they didn't expect him to use his own son to do it.

Knowing what they were thinking he spoke again. "The 5 through 9 tails cannot be sealed into just anyone. Only an infant with undeveloped chakra coils can contain their power without dying." He spoke this firmly and with so much despair in his voice that those present could tell he was absolutely truthful with them in this, which only caused their hearts to weigh heavier.

Kushina looked at them with conviction in her pained face. "He's right... I can't stand it," She said with tears in her eyes. "But he's right. I was the last Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I had it sealed within me after a ceremony to revert my chakra coils to infant level development. That's why I could live."

Seeing no other alternative, Hitomi brought Naruto to Minato. He flashed through a series of handsigns that only Hiruzen recognized, causing him to gasp. "Minato, surely there is another method to seal the fox! Why this one!?"

"Minato shouted " **Reaper Death Seal**." He turned to his predecessor. "Because the only other meathod to seal the Kyuubi's massive strength takes a month. Time we do not have. I'm sorry my friends, but this is the only way."

As he spoke, a phantom of sorts appeared behind him with a blue humanoid shape teathered in front of him. The blue mass took on the silohuete of Minato as the phantom—now recognizable as the Shinigami—reached into the figure, his hand disappearing and reappearing out of the real Minato's chest.

The Shinigami looked at Minato's target and frowned, if that was possible with his fanged face. He then spoke in a deep and menacing voice. **"The power of a tailed beast is outside my ability to control as a single mass."** He looked at his summoner. **"You have invoked my power, mortal. Thus, your life is forfeit. I cannot do as you ask and seal this power in a single vessel. The word of Kami is law and I cannot change law. However, I can split the power among two vessels. Know this, the vessels must both be infants, or prepared with the appropriate rituals. I will give this woman enough power to contain the Kyuubi with her chains while a decision is made."**

The raw power of the Shinigami's voice, along with his declaration, startled everyone. For a moment no one spoke and the only sounds heard were the pained breathing of Kushina and the angry roars of the fox. Finally, Kushina broke the silence. "I can't hold on much longer..." She was nearly breathless and her eyes were starting to glaze over.

After another moment Hitomi stepped forward with Hinata in her arms. "Minato," she sobbed. "Use Hinata for the other half..." She had tears pouring down her face. Even Hiashi had to look down, his face no longer to maintain his mask of indiference. With tears down his own face he looked back up.

"She is right..." he sobbed. "Hurry, before it is too late..."

Minato's face contorted in an excruciatingly painful expression as he cried audibly. "I'm so sorry everyone. I've failed you all." He nodded to the Shinigami that the decision was made.

Before anyone could respond, the Shinigami's arm reached forth and took hold of the Kyuubi, pulling forth his chakra and splitting it in two before sealing it in the two selected babies. Both infants cried as the foreign chakra entered their guts. In less time than it takes to breath, the whole affair was done and Minato lay on the ground next to Kushina. Both were motionless as the last of their power was spent and their souls passed into their afterlives. Kushina's departing naturally while Minato's soul was taken into the Shinigami and sealed away.

No one knew that the last of their chakra had been sealed into Naruto and Hinata as well to help them when the time came. No one knew what had happened to release the fox from Kushina in the first place. And no one knew what the future held.

 _Konoha: 2 weeks later_

Hiruzen took back his office as Hokage as he led the reconstruction effort of the village. He attended council meetings, signed documents, and wandered the village helping wherever he could. It was exhausting and stressful. But none of it compared to the council meeting he was about to walk in to. The meeting was to discuss the sealing of the Kyuubi and to decide what would be done with the children. He knew Danzo would want them. He also knew that Hinata was safe because she was a clan heiress. He did NOT know that Naruto was also going to have the protection of the Hyuuga clan. He, like most, was unaware that Hitomi was Naruto's godmother.

His only thought on the way to the meeting was how to save Naruto. _'I'll be damned if I let Danzo anywhere near Naruto!'_ He would do whatever it took.

 _Council Chamber: Two Minutes Later_

The civilian council members were yelling at the Shinobi side of the council to listen to reason.

"Kill the damn fox! We must finish what Yondaime-Sama started and destroy the demon child before it's too late!" The woman shouted. She was the head of the civilian side of the council and had a shrieking voice like a banshee. Her name was Mebuki Haruno. She had Orange/Blond hair that stopped at the base of her neck and a single bang covering her forhead and the area between her eyes. She wore a white qipao.

Most of the Shinobi council was there when Minato sacrificed himself and grew furious at this woman's outburst. So much so that one of them spoke up. It was Chouza, who was known as one of the kindest people on the entire council, both Shinobi and civilian.

"You shut your damn mouth before I shut it for you!" Chouza yelled this loud enough that the entire room was silent afterword. Mebuki was speachless. Chouza continued, "You weren't there. You have no idea the TRUE sacrifices that were made there on that night!"

Just then the reinstated Sandaime Hokage walked into the chamber and sat at the head of the council ending Chouza's outburst before more harm than good was done.

Everyone took their seats and the Hokage began. "Now, let's get started." His voice took on a commanding tone than everyone recognized as a no non-sense, zero-tolerance tone. "The first order of buisiness today is the finalization of the long term reconstruction budget."

Before he could make it any further, Danzo spoke up. "Hiruzen, this council has a much more important matter to discuss today." He didn't give the Hokage time to speak before he moved on. "Give the boy to me and I will turn him into a completely loyal defender of this village."

Hiruzen looked at Danzo as if he was speaking a foreign language. "Danzo, that will not happen so long as I am Hokage. This is my final decision and I will not be swayed." Danzo was a war hawk and could often talk his way into anything, but he knew his former team mate enough to know that it would not work this time.

Mebuki spoke up next. "If you aren't going to let Danzo brainwash the boy then the only other decision this council could make is to kill the demon now! Why are we even debating this!" She was nearly yelling at this point.

Hiruzen released his killing intent that had been building up ever since the information of the Kyuubi being sealed had been made public. It was staggering even to the most battle hardened Shinobi in the room. No one was unaffected, not the Anbu, not the Jonin Commander Shikaku Nara, not even Danzo.

"That is out of the question," he said with barely contained rage as he released his killing intent. The civilian members of the council, being the most affected, let out a breath they didn't even know they had been holding.

Mebuki recovered quickly, a mystery that no one has been able to solve in years. She spoke up then. "Then what do you suggest? It's only a matter of time before the demon overcomes the seal and continued what it started!"

Many of the civilian council members agreed with her, Nodding in the only way they knew to show her their support as they recovered from the Hokage's earlier outburst.

Hiruzen spoke again. "I open the floor to the council for suggestions on the boy's fate." He looked around, focusing mostly on the Shinobi council.

"Does the boy have any living family?" The question was asked by Shibi Aburame, who was not at the party two weeks prior.

"Not that I am aware," Hiruzen said.

At this, the ever silent Hyuuga spoke up. "If I may correct you, Hokage-Sama, the boy does have a family of sorts left."

Hiruzen raised his eyebrow at this. "Oh? I was under the impression that his only family died in the attack." He said this vaguely as the civilian council was unaware of the boy's parentage for his own protection.

Mebuki spoke before Hiashi could. "Hyuuga-Sama, what do you mean it still has family? It's a demon!"

The only thing that kept Hiashi from striking her down was his pride as a Hyuuga. "I personally knew the boys parents," Hiashi said. "And my wife, Hitomi Hyuuga, is the boy's godmother. Thus she has legal guardianship of Naruto. And the next time you call him a demon, your life will be forfeit to me as per clan law as recompense for insulting the honor of the Hyuuga clan." He said this in a cold, emotionless voice that told her just how serious he was.

She froze and was silent on the matter.

Hiashi spoke again as the council absorbed this information. "I have the legal documents as proof." He presented the documents. No one doubted him at this point. _'Just try me',_ he thought. "My wife and I will be adopting the boy into the main branch of the clan. He will be raised as if he were our own son. We have legal rights in this and no amount of argument will sway me on this. I swear upon mine and my clan's honor that if anyone moves to strike this motion that the Hyuuga clan will retaliate with our full force. We will cut ties with all matters of civilian concern and pull our clansmen from the rank of Shinobi until I fell that my position on this matter has been made clear."

The civilian council paled at this while the Shinobi council and the Hokage all smiled internally at Hiashi's careful wording. The Elders, especially Danzo, were not happy at all, but they were legally unable to refute his claims.

Hiashi spoke again, "This same punishment stands if he, my daughter, or my clan are treated with anything but the respect we command as the most powerful clan in Konoha. If Naruto or Hinata are harmed in any way—be it mentally, emotionally, or physically—the Hyuuga clan will retaliate. This I swear upon my blood. Any who break this will owe my clan a debt of blood."

This completely locked down the council, as a debt of blood was absolute under clan laws. Not even the Hokage could overturn a debt of blood. _'Well played Hiashi,'_ thought the Hokage. "On my position as Hokage, I accept these terms on behalf of Konoha. Let the record show that I declare this council meeting an S-Class secret punishable by death. This includes the next bit of information that will be presented by the council that will answer the question on the mind of the civilian council members. Hiashi, why do you include your daughter specifically in this matter?" Hiruzen gave Hiashi a knowing smile which Hiashi surprisingly gave back.

Hiashi explained what the Shinigami had said the night of the sealing, without giving any names of those who were present. He explained that only infants could be used for the sealing and that the Yondaime had sacrificed his life to seal the fox into both Naruto and Hinata. He said all this without ever revealing the Naruto was actually the son of Minato. Though the council already knew that he was the son of Kushina. Only the Shinobi at the party knew of Minato's roll as father, or that Minato and Kushina were even married at all. The civilians did not know that Kushina was married, only that she had a child two and a half months ago with an unknown man as the father.

"Let the record show that Naruto is officially taken in by the Hyuuga clan, and that both he and Hinata, the two Jinchuuriki of Konoha will not be treated as such on pain of death or blood debt, whichever is broken." Hiruzen closed the matter. "Now, the council will move on to the budget."


	3. Nightmares and Truths Revealed

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That right belongs to Kishimoto-Sensei.**

 **A/N: In the last chapter, I failed to mention that the law of secrecy regarding Naruto's status and parentage was not passed and will not be in my story. While his parentage is kept a secret, even from the council members who do not know, it is not actually a law. Thus, Naruto will learn of his situation much earlier than in canon.** **This means the village will also learn of Hinata's status as a Jinchuuriki as well.**

 _Chapter 3: Nightmares and Truths Revealed_

It's been 3 years since the Kyuubi was released in the village. By this point, every secret of the council meeting has been released to the public, including the Hyuuga clan head's threat to the village. As such, no one dared to make a move against them. Hinata was treated with the utmost respect. Or at least that's how it seemed. Secretly, the civilians despised having her around. And while they did not openly show it, people could tell. As bad as it was, it was much worse for Naruto.

Naruto Uzumaki was shunned, both openly and secretly. Though, never when there was a Hyuuga around to catch them, as Naruto was an adopted Hyuuga of the main family. He has not yet had to endure beatings and ridicule as he rarely leaves the Hyuuga compound. It will be two more years before that starts. By that time, his adopted family had grown rather attached to him in many ways.

 _The sky was dark as clouds covered all moonlight. The darkness had an ominous feel to it that could only mean misfortune. A heavy and malevolent chakra filled the air as the large fox appeared in a large plume of smoke. Letting loose a roar that shook the earth, the Kyuubi thrashed its tails about leveling the landscape._

 _Shinobi appeared out of thin air all around the great beast letting loose great jets of flame, walls of earth, and a few streaks of lightning enhanced water. These ninja gave it everything they had, but nothing seemed to affect the Kyuubi, only anger it greatly. In one more massive roar he knocked them all back and started killing them off a few at a time with both his mighty tails, and his massive claws._

 _The scene changes and now the fox is being held down by massive chains. He lunges forward with his claw when the chains loosen for an unknown reason. As the claws approach the scene goes red._

The Hyuuga main house is woken by the scared screams of two children. Hinata and Naruto both awoke from their nightmare in a cold sweat, crying at the horrible scene that had invaded the children's dreams. Hiashi and Hitomi awoke from the scream and, hearing the crying, rushed to the children's rooms. Hiashi went to Hinata and Hitomi went to Naruto.

With Hitomi and Naruto

A pregnant Hitomi rushed in and saw Naruto huddled on his bed with his blanked wrapped around him, tears streaming down his face. His choked up sobs causing him to nearly hyperventilate. Hitomi walked over and climbed onto his bed, embracing him in a hug.

"There there," she said. "It was just a bad dream. Everything will be alright. It's okay. I'm here." She continued to comfort him as he gradually calmed down.

Finally, when he was no longer crying and just hugged her for comfort she asked, "Naruto-kun? Are you okay now?"

"Uh-huh," he mumbled.

She bent over and kissed him on the forehead asking, "Do you want to talk about it? It might make you feel better."

As Naruto began to describe his nightmare, Hiashi and Hinata were in a similar situation.

With Hiashi and Hinata

Hiashi walked into his daughter's room and moved over to her bed where she was crying heavily under her blanket. Hiashi gently pulled the blanket from over her head. When she saw him, she lunged forward and embraced him in the tightest hug she could manage.

"What is wrong, my daughter?" Hiashi wondered what could have happened that could upset her so much, and was equally puzzled as to why Naruto across the hall was crying at the exact same moment.

"It was so scary!" Hinata sobbed her words into Hiashi's shoulder as she started to shake at the memory of her dream.

"It's okay Hinata, it's okay. Daddy's here. Everything will be alright." He embraced her back warmly and her shaking started to die down.

"It felt so real," she mumbled. "There was this big fox with nine tails, and it started attacking everything."

This startled Hiashi as she started describing exactly what had happened in the Kyuubi attack three years ago in explicit detail. Meanwhile, Naruto was giving the exact same description to Hitomi.

After both children had been calmed down and fell back into a calm slumber, Hiashi and Hitomi left the children's rooms and headed back to their own room where they began to discuss what they had heard.

Realizing that both children had the exact same nightmare, they grew concerned.

"Hiashi-kun, what do you think this means? Do you think the fox is trying to take over the children?" Hitomi was concerned, very concerned. Hiashi was too, though he hid it well, using the usual Hyuuga mask of indifference as he debated what to do.

"I don't know dear," he finally said. "Tomorrow I will consult with the Hokage, he may have some idea of what to do." He doubted this, but what else could he do? 'I may have to talk to Inoichi-san if Hiruzen doesn't know what to do.'

"I'm worried. We can't even help our children when they have nightmares. This is so frustrating." A single tear fell from Hitomi's eyes. "Perhaps we should tell them the truth. They will need to know eventually."

Hiashi thought for a minute. "They will need to know eventually, but I believe it is too soon for them. I don't know if they could handle the burden at this age."

"No, you're right. Perhaps when they enroll in the academy." After a long period of silence with both of them deep in thought, Hitomi spoke again. "No, I don't think we should wait for them to enroll in the academy after all. The longer we wait, the more likely that they will learn from someone else. The kindest thing we can do for them is have them hear it from us first. Ask Hokage-sama tomorrow what he thinks. Until then, lets try to get a little sleep."

The Next Day

Hiruzen woke up from a knock on his door. Realizing he had fallen asleep at his desk in the Hokage's Tower, he stood up and stretched. He then straightened his paperwork and said, "Yes? Come in."

Hiashi walked in the office and bowed before his leader. "Good morning Hokage-sama."

"Hiashi-san," Hiruzen said. "What can I do for you this morning?"

"I need your advice. You see..." Hiashi began to explain what had happened last night. After his explanation was finished both men were silent for a few minutes. "My wife and I believe we should tell them before they learn from someone else. However we also feel it's too early to tell them. This is so new to us and we simply don't know how best to proceed."

"I agree that it would be best to learn it from you, but are you sure there is no way you could wait until they begin the academy in a few years? After all, they are both heroes and deserve as much happiness in their childhood as they can get before they learn of the heavy burden they bear. Once they learn, their lives will never be the same."

"We are well aware of this, Hokage-sama, but in all truth, they do not have normal childhood's anyways. It is unfortunate, but given their circumstances, they are rarely let outside the Hyuuga compound. Despite the threat I hold over this village, I fear there may be many who do not care, or who are foolish enough to believe that they will not be caught." Hiashi voiced his concern, but at the same time wished to do as Hiruzen suggested. For the firsts time since that council meeting three years ago, Hiashi's Hyuuga mask fell away in front of his leader and his concern and fear were very much apparent on his face.

Hiruzen saw this and remarked, "I understand your concern, Hiashi-san, I really do. But at the same time, I believe that they can still have a happy childhood. This village has recovered well from the wars and Kyuubi attack. Perhaps you can try to have a bit more faith in your village."

Hiruzen spoke gently, not wanting to sound condescending or insulting to the Hyuuga clan head, but at the same time wanting to instill a bit more faith into Hiashi. So Hiruzen spoke again, "I believe that there are a number of them who still have a strong Will of Fire and would protect young Hinata and Naruto if given the chance."

Hiashi thought on this for a moment before giving his reply. "Perhaps you are right," he said reluctantly. "Perhaps I do need to put more faith in the people of my village. Thank you for hearing me out Hokage-sama." Hiashi bowed again before turning to leave.

As he was walking out, Hiruzen had one last thing to say. "Hiashi-san, in regards to this dream they both shared, perhaps it is a byproduct of the seal they both possess. It does slowly convert the fox's chakra into their own. It may be a sign that the seal is working properly as well."

Hiashi turned around to look at Hiruzen and nodded before turning back and walking out of the Hokage's office to return home. Hiruzen looked back down at his desk. 'Well, this day is already looking to be a long one. Damn this paperwork. Bane of my existence. Why did you have to leave so soon Minato? There are just so many people who miss you. You and Kushina both.'

An hour later at the Hyuuga compound

Hiashi had told Hitomi what the Hokage had said. She had reluctantly agreed to not tell the children the truth yet. "I know it's hard," Hiashi said. "But, I don't think they are old enough to really understand yet. They need all the happiness they can get if they are to weather the storm that is to come. They will face many hardships in the years to come, and we will be there for them throughout it all."

"It just doesn't sit well with me Hiashi-kun." Hitomi again had a tear run down from her eyes. Hiashi saw this and in an attempt to comfort his wife, pulled her into a kiss. A moment later, she pulled away in a gasp of pain. Hiashi, startled by this immediately stood in front of her asking, "What's wrong?"

"I think it's time," she said. "Our youngest is ready to meet us."

Hiashi called out to one of the many branch family members who were always within earshot in case they were needed. "Quick! Get a doctor here immediately!"

The branch member ran off to the hospital to get help as Hiashi called to another branch family member to get their midwife. As he ran off as well, Hiashi helped Hitomi to a room within the main household. Hinata's personal guard and caretaker when her parents were unavailable, a man named Ko Hyuuga, ushered both Hinata and Naruto to the gardens to keep them out of the house.

Hours Later

Hinata and Naruto were brought from the garden into the room where Hitomi had given birth to the newest member of the family after the room had been cleaned up. When they entered, they rushed over to Hitomi's bed where she was laying with a little pink bundle and little energy. "Hinata-chan, Naruto-kun, please come here." Hitomi's voice was barely a whisper.

They climbed onto the bed to see better. Hitomi was very pale as she said, "This is your new little sister. Her name is Hanabi. Please, take care of her for me. Always know that I love you all."

Needless to say, Naruto and Hinata were both very confused as to what was going on. Hinata was the first to voice her concern. "Mommy, what's wrong?"

In a corner of the room, Hiashi stepped forward. Having been silent up until now, his presence startled the children slightly. Looking up, they could see his eyes were puffy and tinted slightly red from the tears he had shed. "I'm sorry," he whispered almost too low for anyone to hear. "Hinata... Naruto... your mother is dying. There were complications with Hanabi's birth." He was barely able to choke out the words as Hinata and Naruto both began crying into Hitomi.

"There there," Hitomi whispered. "Don't cry. Everything will be alright. I need you both to be brave for me now. Can you do that?" As she spoke, her words continued to get softer and softer until they were barely a breath. Both children just nodded, unable to speak. "Good, take care of each other, and take care of Hanabi. Remember, I will always be with you in your hearts. I love... you... all..." And with her final words of love, her body went limp and her eyes lost their light as life left her. Hinata and Naruto began to cry uncontrollably, waking up the sleeping newborn who also joined in crying. Hiashi could no longer keep silent as he bent over his late wife and their children as he too cried out in anguish.

Two Days Later

The funeral was held at the heroes monument before a procession bearing her coffin carried it to the Hyuuga clan's private section of the graveyard for the final rights. It was one of the rare cases in which the emotionless mask of the Hyuuga was allowed to be lifted as there was not a single dry eye in the clan that day. Sorrow was the only thing felt from the normally emotionless clan as they mourned the loss of their mother figure. She was the kindest of them all, and not a single person, not even the elders had a negative thing to say about her over the years.

Three Years Later (Age 6)

Over the years, the dream about the Kyuubi attack has become recurring. Each time, the dream would be a little longer and more of the attack would be revealed. Some times the dream would be an out of body experience, sometimes it would be first person from the point of a blonde man they later recognized as the Yondaime Hokage. And in the scariest version of the dream it would be from the point of the Kyuubi itself. By this point they also recognized exactly what the giant fox was. After the first few months of the dream, Naruto and Hinata still woke up in a cold sweat, but they no longer woke up crying. For this reason, Hiashi was unaware of the dream lasting longer than a few months.

This was one such day when the dream came back. Both Naruto and Hinata had woken up in a cold sweat once again. Looking at their clocks they saw that is was almost six in the morning. Almost time to get up anyways, so they shut off their alarms and got dressed before stepping out of their rooms and meeting up in the hallway as they had been doing for nearly two years now.

"The dream again," Naruto asked solemnly.

"Yes," Hinata said. "There was more this time. Did you see all the people who were there when Yondaime-sama summoned that awful spirit thing?" She had no clue that it was the Shinigami himself that the Yondaime had summoned.

"Yeah. It looked like a lot of important people were there. I saw Sandaime-jiji (old man/grandfather) and Hiashi-Tosan (father)." He was really confused. They had both come to the conclusion a little while ago that this was not just a dream. That these events had actually happened. But they could not figure out why they were having them.

"I saw them too. I also saw..." Hinata trailed off. It was still hard for her to mention her mother.

"I know, I saw her too Hinata-chan." Naruto looked down, unable to find anything else to say.

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata started to cry a little. "I don't like this dream. It keeps getting worse and worse every time. I don't understand."

"I know, Hinata-chan. But we'll figure this out. We'll go to the library again today and see if we can find out anything about that red-haired woman who was with Yondaime-sama." Naruto and Hinata had seen a red haired woman get stabbed by the foxes claw with the former Hokage for the first time in their shared dream, and she confused them. She seemed familiar and unknown at the same time.

"We'll have to ask To-san first." Hinata reminded him.

"Oh yeah, well I guess we can ask him at breakfast. Maybe we should go ahead and head to the dining room?" Naruto suggested.

Hinata nodded and the two of them headed to the dining room where the branch family servants were already getting everything ready. Shortly after they arrived Hiashi and Hanabi also arrived and sat in their usual spots.

"Good morning everyone," Hiashi said formally.

"Good morning Oto-san (father)," Hinata and Hanabi said.

"Good morning Hiashi-Tosan," Naruto said.

Breakfast was brought to the table and they all ate in silence as they always did. This annoyed Naruto to no end, as it always did. He didn't like formal environments. But until the servants all left, he had to be formal. As the last branch member left, they all let out a sigh. Finally able to drop the formal atmosphere, Hiashi spoke again.

"So how are you all this morning?" Hiashi said with a smile, signaling the children that they could relax.

"I had the most WONDERFUL dream!" Hanabi said. "It was so colorful and fun! What about you, Onē-san (big sister)?"

Hinata shifted in her seat a bit, which didn't go unnoticed by Hiashi. She spoke up after only a moments hesitation. "Well, I don't really remember what I was dreaming about. Sorry Hanabi-chan." Hiashi noticed the lie, but didn't press for details.

Hanabi spoke up once again, "What about you Naruto-Niisan? Did you have a good dream?" Naruto also shifted a bit uncomfortably, but didn't hesitate to answer.

"Not really Hanabi-chan. It was a really confusing dream actually." Naruto was honest, but didn't give any details. Hiashi noticed this too, but thought nothing of it. Until Naruto and Hinata glanced each others direction before sharing a worried look. _This_ had Hiashi concerned, as it brought back memories of the few months following his late wife's death and Hanabi's birth.

"Oh, that's too bad." Hanabi was a little disappointed but quickly got over it like most kids do. Hiashi then spoke to Naruto.

"Well, maybe I can help you understand. Would you like to talk about it Naruto?" Hiashi asked. He noticed Naruto shift a bit uncomfortably in his seat. "If not, it's okay. You don't have to tell me until you are ready."

"It's not that..." Naruto thought to himself for a moment. "Hiashi-Tosan, do you remember those dreams me and Hinata-chan had when we were younger?"

Hiashi was both nervous and surprised, but his years as clan head helped him hide it well. "Yes, Naruto, I do. Did you have it again?"

"Actually, I never stopped having it..." Naruto admitted in a low voice, as if he were afraid.

This did break Hiashi's mask and he had a startled look clearly on his face. He quickly recovered and asked Naruto, "Really? I thought you stopped having that dream years ago?"

"No, sir. We have been having the dream a lot. And it keeps getting longer and longer." Naruto admitted.

Hinata shifted uncomfortably. Hiashi now understood and spoke. "I see. But what do you mean it's getting longer?" He thought he knew the answer but he needed to be sure.

Before he could speak, Hinata interupted timidly, "Actually To-san, we were hoping you would let us go back into the clan library so we could look up a few things about the dream." Hinata was a bit timid, though not as bad as she could have been. Not by a long shot.

Hiashi thought for a moment before answering. "Actually, before you go digging in the archives, please explain what it is you saw and at least let me try to answer any questions I can." He saw them contemplating their decision while glancing at Hanabi, who was confused as to what was going on. He decided to help them make their decision by excusing Hanabi, who had finished eating. "Hanabi, why don't you go outside and play while we talk."

"Yes Oto-san," Hanabi said in a disappointed tone before she got up and headed outside.

Hinata thanked her father for that and, with help from Naruto, she explained what they had seen and heard. She also explained that each time they had the dream, more and more of it was clearing up. She also explained that the two of them had decided a while back that it was not just a dream, but some how was actually past events. Though they did not understand how, Hiashi knew instantly that the time had come to tell them the truth.

"Hinata, Naruto, listen for a moment. I have something very important to tell you both that will clear up everything about your dreams. Please do not interrupt me while I explain and save any questions until the end. I will answer everything then."

He then proceeded to explain everything. The attack, the fox, the seal, Naruto's real parents—who he had always asked to know who they were—and the circumstances behind why his father had done what he had done. He then explained what the Shinigami had said that night and how Hinata was chosen to contain the other half of the Kyuubi. He explained it all and was not interrupted a single time, much to his surprise.

After his explanation was complete he waited a few moments while the two children digested everything. Naruto was the first to speak. "So, my real father was the Yondaime Hokage, and my mother was the previous host of the Kyuubi?"

Hiashi's heart broke a little at the words 'real father' but hid it well before answering. "Yes, and they were both great people and amazingly loyal friends."

Naruto smiled a little bit before saying, "Thank you, Hiashi-Tosan. Thank you for finally telling me." Hiashi was relieved that Naruto still looked to him as a father figure.

Hinata spoke up then, "So that's why Naruto-kun lives with us? Because we both have the fox in us?"

"No, Hinata, that is not the only reason why. You see, your mother was also Naruto's godmother. That means that in the event that something happened to his mother and father, that your mother would take him in and care for him as her own son. And that is exactly what we did. We came to love him as our own son. Which brings me to my next topic. Unless... you have more questions?" The did, in fact, have more questions. But they decided to wait until later to ask them. They wanted to think on it for a little while and see how they felt about everything first.

Shaking their heads no, Hinata said, "No, I don't think we have anymore questions right now. But if we do later, can we still come and ask, Oto-san?"

He nodded yes and continued on. "Naruto, there is something I have been meaning to ask you for a while now. How would you like to become a real Hyuuga?"

To say that Naruto was shocked would be an understatement. He was speechless to the point of not even knowing his own name at the moment. After a moment, he collected his thoughts and took a moment to understand what Hiashi meant, but he couldn't figure it out. "What do you mean?"

Smiling, Hiashi explained. "Well, there is a ritual passed down from generation to generation, from clan head to clan head. This ritual, called the Blood Rite, will imbue the blood of a Hyuuga in you, making you an official part of the family, as well as granting you the Byakugan. You will learn our ways, traditions, fighting style, and the secrets of the Byakugan. You will become a member of whichever branch sponsors you to become a full Hyuuga. Which since it is me offering, you would become part of the Main Family of the Main Branch of the Hyuuga clan. In other words, you would become my son completely."

Naruto could only stare at Hiashi smiling down at him. Naruto then smiled in what would become his trademark fox-like smile before leaping at Hiashi and embracing him in a hug. Hiashi then explained further, "You will become a Hyuuga in blood, though at the same time, you will still be Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. That is your true last name, by the way. And as such, you will be both my son, and the son of Minato and Kushina. You will still have their DNA and your father's bloodline, as well as the Hyuuga bloodline." What Hiashi didn't explain was that since his DNA wouldn't change, he could pursue a relationship with Hinata later down the road if he chose to. They were too young to understand that, so he didn't bother to explain it.

"Uzumaki-Namikaze... and also Hyuuga... Wait, my father had a bloodline?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, Naruto, but I do not know how it works. All I know is that once it awakens, you will be able to use your father's signature jutsu. It is called Haraishin, and it is probably the most deadly jutsu in Konoha."

"That is so COOOOOOOL!" Naruto shouted as he jumped up and down.

Hinata could only smile at this. She was so happy for Naruto. "Um, Oto-san, what does Naruto-kun have to do for this ritual?" Hinata asked.

"Well, I will have to perform a very complicated jutsu and sacrifice a bit of my blood, almost like a summoning jutsu. Then Naruto will go into a deep sleep for about a day. When he wakes up, he will have the Byakugan and be a full member of our family." He then turned to Naruto and added one more thing. "Naruto, you need to know that the ritual will involve some pain and discomfort in your eyes while they change. Your eyes will still be blue like they are now, but when you activate the Byakugan, your eyes will become like ours. They will be pale-white and pupil-less. You are the clan heir of both the Uzumaki clan and the Namikaze clan, as well as a member of the main family of the Hyuuga. This is something that has never been done. I am both glad, and proud, that you have chosen to do this."

Naruto just smiled at Hiashi saying, "Well, I'm very happy to be part of this family. Now I get to make it official. I'll be a _real_ part of the family now."

"Once you recover from the ritual, you will be taught how to activate the Byakugan and you will both begin training under me. Naruto, your training will be on the laws and traditions of the clan that Hinata already knows. Hinata, you will be training on the duties of the clan head in preperation for the day you take over for me. You will both be trained on the gentle fist and the secrets of the Byakugan. We will do the ritual tomorrow. Until then, I have duties I must take care of with the clan. Enjoy your day, both of you." And with that, Hiashi left the two of them in the dining room talking excitedly about starting their training.

 **A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope you have all enjoyed this story so far. If you have any suggestions, please leave a review, weather good or bad. I really hope I am continuing to write this right. I'm excited to see what you all think of the story.**

 **The recurring dream is important, more so that just what has happened in this chapter. It will come up in the future. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Who knows, maybe one of your suggestions will thrill me so much that I'll change the story to put it in. No promises though.**

 **I have many other things in mind for this story that will make it veer off from where you may or may not think it is going. It's going to explain many things that were left unanswered in the cannon story, as well as changing more than what it already has. I truly hope you enjoy. I know I am enjoying writing it. I don't know how often I'll be able to update chapters, but I'm going to try to get at least two chapters a month minimum. This is going to be a very long story, as I am planning on taking it all the way into the Boruto series. Though I don't know if I'll take it farther into that one. Depends on what I think of the series as it continues. Again, I hope you enjoy it so far.**


	4. Blood Rites and Cool Eyes

**A/N: Shout out to Novrier, who pointed out a huge hole in one of my plot ideas that I have now fixed for future chapters. Thank you! See, this is why I like reviews, hahaha, it helps me make the story more believable and natural. It may be a fanfic, but I want it to at least flow well and make sense, not just be a collection of incoherent ideas.**

 **Also, I am probably going to be doing two to three chapters a month for a while so that the story can gain a bit more progress. After all, I hate waiting for new chapters of an unfinished story that I have interest in, and I know others feel the same. So I'm going to write whenever I have both time and inspiration. This story isn't set in stone and could change dramatically as I write it, but rest assured that any changes made to the story will fit with what has already been written.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, that right is all Kishimoto-sensei... Oh sensei, when will you see I'm a deserving successor to your masterpiece?**

 _Chapter 4: Blood Rites and Cool Eyes_

Naruto woke up the following day with a smile on his face as he remembered the conversation he had with his father figure the previous day. He was excited, to say the least. Today he would become a true member of his family. Not that he hadn't been a part of the family already, but this would give him a deeper sense of belonging that he hadn't known before.

I climbed out of bed and went to his closet. In it was a rather plain looking wardrobe consisting of shirts, robes, shorts and pants of the typical Hyuuga style. The only difference was that most of the clothing had some kind of orange accent on it, such as a stripe down the sides of the pant legs, or the swirl of Konoha Shinobi on the back of the shirts that he now knew was the Uzumaki clan crest.

Deciding on his clothes he quickly got dressed and headed for breakfast just like any other day. This would not be like any other day, however, and he knew it. Hinata met him in the hall as she usually did, as they somehow always woke up around the same time. It was as if their internal clocks were completely in sync with one another.

When they arrived, Hiashi and Hanabi were already there as usual, and the little firecracker **(A/N: couldn't resist the joke there, haha)** was radiating joy. Hiashi had just told her about the Rite that Naruto was going to be undertaking in a few hours.

"Onii-san! Are you really going to become a Hyuuga today!?" Hanabi couldn't contain her joy at the thought that her older brother figure was going to truly take up the roll of an older brother.

"Hai, Hanabi-chan," Naruto said excitedly.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said. "Are you sure you want to do this? Oto-san said that the jutsu and ritual would be painful."

"What?" Hanabi cried out. "Onē-san, is it really going to hurt Onii-san?" Hanabi looked from Naruto to Hinata then back to Naruto before finally looking back to her father. "Oto-san?"

Hiashi looked to his youngest, "Hai, it will cause I bit of pain in his eyes as he gains the Byakugan. But don't worry, Hinata and I will be there too."

Hanabi looked someone calmer at hearing this, but the look of worry on her face never left. She just sat there in silence the rest of the breakfast watching Naruto. To her surprise, she saw no fear in his eyes. You see, even at a young age, and before the Byakugan truly awakens, Hyuuga are exceptionally good at reading people's emotions.

After breakfast, Naruto and Hinata were instructed to meet Hiashi in his private training ground behind the main house where a small shrine was kept in memory of Hitomi. After a few hours they did so, not knowing what to expect.

What they didn't know is that two of the elder's who supported Naruto and Hinata were present to act as witnesses to the Rite. They stood of to the side in silence with the standard Hyuuga mask of indifference. On the inside, however, they were beaming with pride at finally being able to honor the young man who keeps half of a living natural disaster at bay.

Once Naruto and Hinata made it to Hiashi in the center of the small private training ground, Hinata was directed to stand by the elders.

"Hinata, please stand by my advisors off to the side, as I will need ample room to perform the jutsu and ritual the make up the Blood Rite."

Hinata did as instructed as Hiashi pulled out sealing ink and a large brush used for intricate calligraphy. He began to draw out a large, square seal of about ten feet on each side. Using his Byakugan to make sure each stroke was absolutely perfect, as well as making sure to put the exact amount of chakra into each stroke, he wrote out a rather complex sealing formula with Naruto in the center. Instructing Naruto to stay in the center and not disturb the ink, the seal took about an hour for Hiashi to complete. Once complete he drew eight more smaller, circular seals that looked to be about two feet in diameter. Four of them were positioned at each corner of the square, which pointed in the cardinal directions of the compass. The other four were positioned dead center between the cardinal directions.

He then pulled out a ceremonial knife and cut open both of his palms to draw blood before going through a string of thirty-two hand signs and shouted out, **"Sealing Art: Bond of Blood Jutsu"**.

Upon activation, the sealing matrix flared to life with a bright white glow. The seal retreated onto Naruto, until it was no bigger than a single kanji on Naruto's forehead. Naruto cried out in pain and fell to his knees as his eyes glowed white. A burning pain blinded Naruto as he closed his eyes tightly. The elders held onto Hinata's shoulders to prevent her from running to Naruto and interrupting the Rite.

The pain felt like it lasted for hours, days, even weeks. Naruto lost track of all his senses but the sense of pain behind his eyes. All meaning left him as he was on the blackened border of unconsciousness. As he was about to pass out he heard Hinata cry his name, reminding him of what he was doing. He was joining Hinata's family. The reminder of the love he felt for his adopted family steeled him against the pain as he gritted his teeth and fought to remain conscious. It felt like an eternity.

Finally, the pain receded and Naruto opened his eyes in relief. When he lifted his head, he realized he was laying face first on the ground. He stood up, his muscles burning as if he had just run a marathon. When he faced those who were present, the seal that had receded to his forehead was gone, as it was supposed to be. So when they gasped in shock, he was confused to say the least.

"What? What is it? Did it work?" Naruto asked the questions quickly without giving anyone time to answer.

Hiashi spoke up, "I'm... not sure? Naruto, come over here." As Naruto approached, he noticed Hiashi pull out a mirror from the sleeve of his robe. Naruto, having no knowledge of storage seals at the time, was confused as to how Hiashi had done this, but with more important things on his mind did not question it.

When Naruto looked in the mirror, he noticed that his eyes weren't pale like the Hyuuga's Byakugan was supposed to be. Instead, it was The same vibrant blue it had been before. However, that's where the similarity to his old eyes ended. His eyes were now pupil less like the Byakugan was supposed to be, but that too is where the similarity ends compared to the Byakugan. In the center of his eyes where the pupil would be when the Byakugan was active was a faint ring a purple that you couldn't really see unless you looked closely. His eyes also had very faint traces of red along the edges.

"Whoa..." Naruto was amazed by the changes his eyes had undergone. It was hypnotic to look at.

Hinata and the elders walked over to see what was wrong, as they had heard what Hiashi had said a moment ago. When they saw his eyes up close, they were confused. Obviously his eyes had changed, but it was not the Byakugan, was it? _'Only one way to be sure'_ all the adults thought at the same time.

Hiashi came down to one knee and looked Naruto in the eyes. "Naruto, form these hand signs while concentrating chakra in your eyes and say 'Byakugan'." Hiashi ran through a few hand signs slowly so Naruto could see them clearly. Copying the hand signs, Naruto did just that. **"Byakugan,"** he shouted as his vision changed to black and white and he could see in a full 360 degrees, which was very disorienting to the young boy.

When he activated the doujutsu his eyes had the telltale signs of activation in the form of bulging veins on either said of his head. The purple ring in his eyes where the pupil develops during activation was made more pronounced. To top off the surprise of everyone, his eyes glowed with a cerulean/violet aura. It was fain, but it was visible. This puzzled everyone present.

"Did it work, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, I think so Hinata-chan. This is so weird, and cool too. I can see everything! But a lot of it is blurry... Is it supposed to be like that?"

Hiashi spoke up then, "You'll get used to it with time and practice. Now stay perfectly still and try to focus your eyes on me without moving them as we test the limits of your new Byakugan. It's something every Hyuuga undergoes when it is activated for the first time."

"Okay Hiashi-Tosan."

After stepping back to about ten meters, Hiashi began to walk in a slow circle around Naruto in a clockwise direction. At each position of a clock, meaning at one o'clock, two o'clock, etc..., he held up a number of fingers and asked Naruto how many he was holding up. After focusing for a moment, Naruto was able to answer each time. This was surprising to the adults, but not unheard of. And truthfully, it was not unexpected since it was Hiashi's blood that was used for the ritual. What DID surprise them was when Hiashi reached six o'clock and held his hand in the Byakugan's blind spot, and Naruto still answered correctly.

The elder's as well as Hiashi gasped in utter shock. "Naruto? You're not guessing are you?" Hiashi asked to be sure.

"No, why? Now you're changing from three fingers to five."

Another audible gasp. "It can't be," one of the elders muttered to himself. "His Byakugan has no blind spot? This has never happened in all of our clan's recorded history. Such a pure Byakugan from a child who is not of Hyuuga decent granted the bloodline through the Rite is unheard of. Even in the most pure of Hyuuga this has never happened before."

"You may deactivate your eyes now, Naruto." Hiashi told him. "Just stop the flow of chakra to your eyes and they will deactivate. With practice, you will eventually be able to activate them without hand signs or even a word."

After Naruto did as told, he was dismissed to go play with Hinata and Hanabi while Hiashi talked with the elders. After discussing what had happened, they decided it would be best to call a council meeting as soon as possible to let the other elders know of this unprecedented discovery.

Later that afternoon

After Naruto and Hinata went to Hanabi to tell her what happened, Naruto had shown her his 'cool eyes' as he had put it. He had kept them active the whole time he was telling her about what he felt and how he had passed some kind of test with flying colors. Hinata had started to worry that Naruto would use too much chakra by having his eyes active for so long after just acquiring them. She was reluctant to activate her own eyes for too long for this same fear.

After they left Hanabi with her nanny, the two had been escorted to the park with Ko as their bodyguard like normal. Naruto had yet to deactivate his eyes. This concerned Hinata even more, as even the most experienced Hyuuga would feel the strain on their chakra reserves at having their eyes active for so many hours.

Naruto was disoriented for a while, but he was growing used to it. He stumbled for the first hour or so, but after that, he was just as comfortable with the Byakugan active as he had been without it. Finally Hinata voiced her concern.

"Naruto-kun, maybe you shouldn't have you eyes like that for too much longer. It can put a lot of stress on your chakra reserves." As a Hyuuga, she had been taught about chakra since a young age. Naruto had been taught the same things, but he normally disregarded them since he never felt exhausted from the control exercised they had done over the years. Honestly, neither had Hinata, but she attributed that to her being a Hyuuga, and they had been doing Hyuuga exercises. She was unaware that she was just as much a stamina monster as he was.

"Really, Hinata-chan? I don't feel tired at all. Do you think maybe it's because of our... you know... guest?" He asked cautiously. He knew that it was something that made people uncomfortable to talk about, as Ko had warned them about it shortly after Hiashi had told them the truth yesterday.

"I... hadn't thought about that. But, it would explain a lot."

"Maybe you should activate yours and see how long we can use it before getting tired? I know! Whoever can use them longer wins, starting when you turn yours on. If I win, we go to Ichiraku's for lunch. If you win, we'll go get your favorite cinnamon rolls for lunch. How does that sound?"

She brightened up at this. "Okay! **Byakugan!** " She activated her eyes and could see Naruto's chakra. She noticed it had not depleted in the slightest since he had activated his eyes hours ago. _'Are his chakra reserves that big?'_ she thought.

When she activated her Byakugan, Naruto noticed a change in her chakra too. This caused him to take notice of the fact he could see chakra for the first time. "Whoa, so this is what chakra looks like? Hinata-chan, yours looks so pretty."

She blushed a bit at this, "Thank you, Naruto-kun. Yours does too."

Her chakra was blue, like all chakra, but it had flickers of both red and lavender in with it. Naruto's however, was blue with flickers of red and orange. As they looked around, they noticed everyone had one color flickering in with the blue of standard chakra. They wouldn't learn for many years that this one color was an identifiable trait unique to that individual. It would take them until graduation of the academy to realize why they had two colors besides the blue one.

 **A/N: Hey, sorry about the shorter chapter, but this is the best stopping point I can find right now since the next part is going to be a time skip to the start of the academy. I plan on spending a few chapters in the academy arc before moving on the the genin arc, then to the Land of Waves arc. If you have any suggestions or ideas be sure to leave a review. Or if you don't want others to read it, you could always send me a P.M.**

 **Also, I just want you all to know that since they grew up differently, Naruto isn't going to be the 'dobe' or dead last of his class. He's a 'Hyuuga' after all. Ha ha ha. Also, Hinata isn't going to be a shy, nervous wreck with no self esteem. This is because she isn't treated like trash by her clan in this fic, as well as the fact that she is growing up with the person she will later develop her crush on. She hasn't developed it yet. That blush was just her natural reaction to being complimented.**

 **Anyways, I'll stop the author's notes there, no one likes reading endless notes that don't advance the story. Hope you guys enjoyed. I'll probably be writing/posting the next chapter in a week, to a week and a half. Hopefully. See you then.**


	5. Training, a Kidnapping and the Academy

**A/N: Thank you all for the reviews. More plot holes have been pointed out and fixed. For that, I am eternally grateful. Keep 'em coming and this story can only get better! :-) BentShuriken had an interesting idea that I've decided to implement into the story in the future. It both fits, and has some interesting possibilities that I haven't come across in all the fics I've read. In fact, I've only read one fic that even comes close to the plot twists I have had planned since the beginning. Even that story didn't use these twists anywhere near what mine have been.**

 **I do have a request though. If you've come across fan fictions that have both Naruto and Hinata as Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi at the same time, please point them out. I'd like to give them a read so that I can make sure I'm not using ideas that have already been written. I've only come across one, and I can't even remember what it's called at the moment.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, though if Kishimoto-sensei is looking to get rid of it I would definitely be up for it. I have so many ideas I could do with it where he left off at the end. There's a lot of potential for the gap between Shipuuden and Boruto!**

 _Chapter 5: Training, a Kidnapping and the Academy._

The next day, Naruto and Hinata were summoned to Hiashi's office an hour after breakfast. They were to begin training in the Hyuuga style of Jyuuken, or the Gentle Fist. As they walked into his office, Naruto noticed a scroll on Hiashi's desk that stood out from the rest. It was a scroll from the village of Kumo, the Village hidden in the Clouds. Naruto didn't know it, but it was a copy of the treaty that was being signed later today by the Hokage. Every clan head was sent a copy to look over so that they could inspect it from different angles for any signs of trickery. So far, no one could find anything other than a genuine wish for a strong alliance.

"Ah, Hinata, Naruto, welcome." Hiashi put away the documents and paperwork that were spread out in front of him on his mahogany desk. The day had barely just begun, but Hiashi looked very tired. His normally impeccable appearance was the very oposite of normal. His hair was slightly unkempt. His robes wrinkled as if he hadn't changed. His eyes had dark rings under them indicating that he had not gone to bed last night. This was because in a council meeting last night, a large argument had come up lasting many hours into the night. The solution had taken many more hours to set up. Long story short, some of the council didn't want Naruto trained in the Gentle Fist. Some of those that believed this also believed that the Blood Rite should not have been performed at all. The only thing that had saved Hiashi from hearing this argument for many more hours than he already had was the fact that Naruto had no blind spot. This was something the clan had been trying to accomplish for generations.

In the end, the lack of blindspot, the Kyuubi, and Hiashi's adoption were the only things that had saved Naruto from a terrible fate at the hands of the more outspoken members of the council. They had tried to convince Hiashi that the only way that he could learn the Hyuuga style was if the caged bird seal was placed on him. However, after many hours of argument and a lot of brainstorming, Hiashi had used the Kyuubi as an excuse not to do so, claiming that putting the seal on Naruto was unpredictable as they had no way of knowing if it was compatible with the sealing matrix used on Naruto and Hinata.

The council was not pleased, but had no way of arguing because such a thing has never been done before. Add to this that the council was then afraid that if the seals were not compatible that the fox would be released and he had the council in the palm of his hand. He then stated that he would be training the boy himself alongside Hinata with no outside interference. Any attempts to do so would result in the offending party being branded with the caged bird seal themselves. Only two people in the clan had the knowledge of how to apply the seal. Hiashi was one, and the other was an older councilman who was—for all intents and purposes—a fence sitter who would not side one way or the other until a clear victor could be decided. After Hiashi's argument, this councilman sided with him. This ended the argument for a while, but Hiashi was sure that the half of the council against him would try again.

All this went through Hiashi's mind in an instant as he watched his daughter and step-son walk in his office. "I apologize for not being at breakfast but the council meeting last night stretched on till early morning and I had too much work to catch up on." Hiashi glared at the stack of paperwork on his desk as if trying to will it into catching fire.

"What did the grumpy old men want, Hiashi-Tosan?" Naruto asked. Naruto never liked the council meetings, as they often put his father-figure in a bad mood when he had to attend them.

"They wanted to discuss your training, and it's been decided on exactly how you will be trained in our arts Naruto." Hiashi focused on him, measuring his response. Naruto stiffened at the news, knowing that if the council was involved that he was more than likely going to be trained by the branch family.

Hiashi noticed his reaction and guessed, successfully, what Naruto was thinking. In an answer to his unasked question, Hiashi said the one thing that could comfort his step-son. "It's been decided that I will be training you personally with Hinata. I know I told you already that I was going to, and I planned on teaching you weather the council agreed or not. Even if it had to be extra lessons on top of what your council appointed instructor taught you. Luckily it will not have to come to that. I was planning on starting your training today, but I am afraid that I cannot, as I have had no sleep and it is unwise to begin ones instruction with a teacher who is less than one hundred percent."

Naruto brightened immensely hearing this. He leaped up over the desk and gave Hiashi a very enthusiastic hug, scattering a bit of the paperwork in the process. Hinata giggled at Naruto's antics, and started to gather her father's scattered paperwork. Hiashi hugged Naruto back, though only briefly before clearing his throat. Naruto blushed a little in embarrassment at his outburst and walked back around the desk to help Hinata clean up his mess.

"As happy as I am that you are happy as well, I must make one thing clear. You absolutely must take the training very seriously. I know you don't go back on your word, as you've stated and proved numerous times. So promise me right now that you will take the training that I give you both as serious as if it were a life or death situation. Can you do that." Hiashi needed their training to bear great results in order to have leverage against the council next time they try something. He needs his children to excel for their own future happiness. "This goes for you as well Hinata. I need you both to promise me this."

Without hesitation, and in perfect sync, the two promised. "We promise."

Later That Night

The village was celebrating the Kumo/Konoha treaty that declared the two nations to now be in a firm, and hopefully long lasting alliance. A festival had been hastily put together. Even though it was in haste, it was just as good as any other festival the Hidden Leaf was famous for. No other Village across the elemental nations could through a festival like Konoha could.

Naruto and Hinata had been allowed to go out into the village for the festival with Ko as their guard and escort. They had visited many of the best looking shops and stands that had been set up. Naruto's personal favorite was the mask shop where he had bought a replica Anbu mask with a bit of his allowance. Hinata's favorite stand to visit was a flower and herbs stand that was run by the Yamanaka clan. While there, she had bought herself seeds of various plants to plant in her private section of the Hyuuga garden. She was already very adept at gardening, even at only six years old. It was one of her favorite things to do when she wasn't playing with Naruto or Hanabi.

Knowing they would one day be ninja, they decided to visit a Shinobi weapons stand so that they could see what cool things that would be on display. When they had finished looking at all the unique weapons on display they headed to the river to get a good spot on the bridge to watch the fireworks that would be going on shortly.

"Hinata-chan, I think I see a good spot over there near the bridge. There, on the hill leading down to the water." Naruto pointed out a spot on a slope that gradually lowered to the river below.

"That's a good spot, Naruto-kun. Ko, can we watch the fireworks from down there?" Hinata used the dreaded **Puppy Eyes Jutsu** that every kid seemed to learn at a young age.

Unable to resist her for long, Ko agreed. "Of course Hinata-sama, you and Naruto-sama be careful though. I will not hesitate to take you both home if you do anything to bring danger to yourselves. I will watch you from here."

"Thank you Ko-san!" Naruto exclaimed brightly. He started to run over to where the hill started, dragging Hinata with him. Once they reached the hill, he slowed to a careful walk, making sure to measure every step so as not to slip and roll down the hill. He kept a firm hold on Hinata's hand, ensuring she didn't slip. Hinata smiled at this, knowing he was very protective of both her and Hanabi. Naruto was technically the middle child of the three of them, but that didn't stop him from being a very protective big brother to both her and Hanabi at times. They all knew perfectly well that Naruto was their step-brother, but Hanabi didn't care, she was just excited to play with him any chance she could. She loved her big brother.

Hinata was different at times. Sometimes she saw him as her protective brother, sometimes she saw him as her best friend who she could feel completely safe around at all times. She was sure that he would always be her best friend, no matter what happens in the future.

They reached the bottom of the hill and sat on the grass only ten feet from the water. Closer than they probably should have gone, but the fact that Ko hadn't collected them, they assumed this distance was safe for watching the fireworks. The two children were so happy to be doing something outside the Hyuuga compound for a change, they were rarely let outside its walls. From their conversation with Hiashi a few days ago, they now knew why. Many villagers were still hateful of the Kyuubi attack six years ago. Since the fox was no longer a threat, the villagers turned their hatred towards the two Jinchuuriki.

Hinata had never experienced their hatred as she never left the compound without a guard. Naruto, however, had been sneaking out of the compound for nearly a year. No one knew he did this, not even Hinata. He noticed that the villagers would always glare at him, ignore him with a could shoulder, or curse at him and call him such horrible names. The kindest thing they had ever called him was 'Demon Brat' or 'Damn Fox'. No he knew why. But he didn't hold it against them, as he had his family to come home to every night.

With this on his mind, Hinata noticed he was lost in thought. "Naruto-kun, what are you thinking about? You have a far away look on your face."

Snapping back to reality, he noticed she looked worried. He looked around to see if anyone was around to cause her worry, not actually hearing what she had said a moment ago. No seeing anyone around he looked back at her, "Is something wrong, Hinata-chan? You look very worried."

"I was wondering what you were thinking about just now," she stated again. "Your eyes were unfocused and it seemed like you were looking for some kind of answer."

"Oh, is that all? No, nothing's wrong. I was just thinking about our past."

"What about it, Naruto-kun?" She was very curious at this point.

Not wanting to tell her about his misadventures, he said "Just how the villagers would react if we didn't have Ko-san or another guard around. They wouldn't be very kind." He technically wasn't lying, but she could tell it wasn't everything. Not wanting to push it any further she let the subject drop. She knew that if he wanted to talk about it, he would.

Deciding to ask him something else, she struck up a new conversation. "Are you excited about starting our training soon, Naruto-kun?

""Am I ever!?" He shouted. He didn't know the meaning of volume when he was truly excited. "Hiashi-Tosan is going to make us so strong. We're going to be the best Shinobi EVER!"

"Do you really think so?" She wasn't so sure. She didn't have an inferiority complex or anything like that, she just liked to see things from a more subdued side. It helped her see things more clearly. It kept Naruto out of trouble more than once. She couldn't even imagine what she would be like if she had inferiority issues. She would probably be a nervous, stuttering wreck. She didn't even want to imagine that.

"What do you mean, Hinata-chan? Of course we will be." He had a slightly more subdued tone this time. His voice was still somewhat loud with confidence, but he was now paying more attention to Hinata as she seemed worried again.

"Well, I just have this feeling that something is going to happen soon. I don't know what, but I just know something bad is about to happen. And with our upcoming training being the only thing we have planned for a while, I can't help but think it has something to do with that." When she finished she shivered to herself a bit.

"Is this like those feelings you had before we had another dream that told us more?" Naruto was concerned as well now as Hinata had developed some kind of sixth sense as to when something major was about to happen. Normally this happened before another of their shared dream gave them more scenes about that night. However, she had this feeling shortly before Hanabi was born and Hitomi passed away. She also had this feeling shortly before they were appointed a new guard a few months ago and he turned out to be one of the few branch family members who sided with the councilman that had some kind of vendetta against the two children. That guard had been reporting to a few councilman before Hiashi found out and had him reassigned to gate duty for the next ten years as punishment for his shameful actions against his children.

Needless to say, Naruto trusted Hinata's senses. He trusted them completely, just as he trusted her completely. She spoke again after a somewhat uncomfortable silence. "It is. I just can't tell exactly what this one means..."

"Well, whatever it is, we'll overcome it. Is your sense telling you when at least? Sometimes it does that."

Hinata nodded yes, "Hai, kinda. It is going to happen very soon. Either tonight or sometime tomorrow."

"Do you want me to stay up with you tonight so we can be ready for whatever it is?" Naruto knew that Hinata always felt more comfortable around him. They figured it was because he was a natural protector and that he was just good at being a brother.

"Would you, Naruto-kun?" She knew he would, even if she asked him not to, so she did the polite thing and asked him to. Tonight he would sneak into her room and they would sit on the bed talking for hours and try to figure out what was coming.

"Of course, Hinata-chan. I'd be happy to."

"Thank you very much, Naruto-kun." She absently wondered why he never called her Imōto, though she honestly didn't mind.

Just then, the fireworks started and they spent the next half hour watching them over the village. When they were done and the finally had finished, Naruto and Hinata walked back up the hill and met up with Ko to walk back to the Hyuuga clan compound.

When they arrived, Ko left them at their rooms and reported to Hiashi on the days events. Including Naruto and Hinata sitting by the riverside for the fireworks. Hiashi was quite happy about this news for some reason.

About an hour after bed time, Naruto snuck out of his room and into Hinata's where she was sitting on her bed in silence. He could see as plain as day that she was quite worried about whatever was to come. Walking up to her, he sat next to her on her bed and put one arm around her and brought her into a hug, whispering "It'll be okay Hinata-chan. Even if something does happen, we'll get through it."

"I hope so Naruto-kun. I just have a really bad feeling. It's gotten a bit clearer. Whatever is going to happen, it'll be in about an hour or two." She started getting very afraid. "It's worse than any of my other feelings. This is going to be the worst thing that has ever happened to us. But there's something else underneath it all. I can't really tell, but it feels like if we make it through whatever this is, something else is going to happen that can be either good or bad. It's like it's up to us to make it one or the other. I don't know how else to explain it..."

"Then we'll just have to make sure it's good. Whatever it is." He said this with complete confidence and without hesitation. This gave her the boost she needed as they talked about nothing and everything for the next hour and a half. Finally, when her instinct went haywire, a shadow appeared in her room. It was a man wearing a full body black Shinobi suit that covered everything but his eyes. They were grey and as cold as a gravestone in winter.

The two children hadn't seen him yet. _'It seems my information was slightly incorrect about her being alone. Oh well, I'll just take them both.'_ As he approached from the shadows, he performed a Genjutsu to knock them unconscious and everything went black.

Half an hour later, Just outside Konoha

Naruto was the first to wake. He was groggy and his memory was slowly going over the events of the day. He had yet to open his eyes, so he didn't know where he was or what was going on. But he could feel that his hands were tied and he was surrounded by some kind of rough fabric on most sides. However, he could feel warmth from an unknown source on his back. A sudden jolt got his attention and he opened his eyes only to find he couldn't see. There wasn't enough light. He heard the heavy breathing of someone he didn't know on the other side of the fabric.

Scared and not knowing what was happening, he muttered under his breath, " **Byakugan** " and his vision went black and white. He could now see everything. Hinata was the source of warmth on his back and he was in a large sac with her. A large man wearing all black was carrying them away from Konoha. That wasn't right. _'What's going on?'_ He tried to shift his weight to turn around and wake Hinata, but the moment he started to shift, the man turned his attention to the bag. This caused Naruto to stop. After a moment the man muttered under his breath, "There's no way they'd be waking up yet. Must've been my imagination."

That caused Hinata to start to wake. She was not so subtle about it. As soon as she was conscious she opened her eyes and saw nothing. She could feel the movement of the bag and grew scared and confused. She shivered a bit before she muttered under her breath to activate her eyes as Naruto had. She saw the same things he did and started to panic. She struggled in the bag before Naruto could try to stop her.

The man dropped the bag instantly and started to go through hand signs for a stronger genjutsu to knock them out longer. Unfortunately for him, he never got the chance as Naruto rushed the man in an attempt to get his attention. He yelled over his shoulder at Hinata, "Run! Go get help!"

Hinata froze as Naruto got close enough to the man to throw a wild punch. The man easily countered with a strong fist to Naruto's chest, causing him to fly back and land on his back coughing uncontrollably. The man held back dramatically, needing to capture them in one piece. He turned to Hinata and walked to her in a measured pace for intimidation in an attempt to make sure she froze with fear. It worked. At least on Hinata. It had the opposite effect on Naruto, causing him to recover his breath in an adrenalince rush to protect his best friend and adopted sister.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" Naruto screamed out as he rushed in for another attempt to punch the man's lights out. Again the man countered with no effort at all with a punch, this time to Naruto's head. His head whiplashed back and planted him on his back with his head hitting the ground first.

"Boy," the man finally spoke in a deep and frightening voice. "Be silent and come with me. If you try to attack me again, I will kill you where you stand."

Naruto still got up, his adrenaline still rushing through his system. He charged once again and this time the man countered with a kunai he pulled out of apparently nowhere. He lunged forward at a speed neither child could follow, making it seem as if he teleported to Naruto as he sunk the kunai into Naruto's stomach. He followed up the stab with a chop to the back of Naruto's neck, knocking him out again.

Hinata then saw red, as her anger at this man hurting Naruto. She screamed as she ran forward, "Don't touch Naruto-kun, you monster!" A sudden burst of power she had never felt before flooded through her system and sent her forward in a blinding burst of speed. She didn't know it, but she was surrounded in an orange-ish/red aura. It wasn't quite a chakra cloak, but it could definitely be felt by this unknown man. The killing intent radiating off of Hinata was great enough to make this experienced Shinobi freeze in terror as she appeared next to him faster than he could see.

After that, she couldn't remember anything. All she knew was that this man seemed to have just killed Naruto. Unknown to her, Naruto had landed in a way that the kunai had been ripped from his stomach and the half of the Kyuubi in him had already started to heal his wound, which actually wasn't lethal to begin with. His healing was accelerated by the chakra that Hinata was expelling in her Kyuubi enhanced rage.

He slowly came back into consciousness and looked around. What he saw was very confusing. He saw Hinata standing over a Shinobi clad in black who was laying on his back. He was covered in his own blood, his chest ripped to shreds. Hinata was shaking terribly, facing away from Naruto. "Naruto-kun," she sobbed in a shaky voice. "I-I'm s-s-so sorry I c-couldn't save you b-before he s-s-stabbed y-you..." She let out a loud shriek of grief as she fell to her knees and cried uncontrollably.

Finding his voice, Naruto got to his knees as he said, "What do you mean, Hinata-chan? I'm right here."

She turned around so fast it was as if she had been facing him the whole time. What he saw was a blood soaked Hinata lunge forward and hugged him so tight he thought she was going to kill him with her embrace.

"NARUTO-KUN!" she yelled in both joy and fear. "Y-you're alive! I-I thought... I thought I l-lost you!" She cried into him harder than she had ever cried before. She cried harder than the time she had fallen out of a sakura tree in the Hyuuga garden. She cried harder than any of the times her nightmares had woken her up. She even cried harder than the night she lost her mother.

Naruto could do nothing but hug her back and hope she didn't snap him in half. _'At least I can breath though'_ he thought. "Hinata-chan, it's okay. I'm here. Everything is okay." She slowly calmed down as her crying slowly reduced to a slow sob.

Just then, a squad of Anbu Black Ops—accompanied by Hiashi Hyuuga—appeared in the area and took in the sight as Hiashi rushed to his children. Everything else after that went by in a blur for the two children. When they look back on the night in the future, they won't be able to tell you what happened after Hiashi found them. They were in shock at the realization of what exactly just happened and have no memory of the rest of the night.

Two Years Later

Naruto and Hinata were being escorted by Ko for their first day at the academy. They were excited to finally begin their formal training to be a Shinobi of Konoha. They arrived a half hour early and were the first to arrive. Slowly, the rest of their soon-to-be classmates started arriving with their parents. It looked like some of them already knew each other as a blonde haired girl was chatting happily with a boy with a pineapple-looking hair style and a rather round boy with a bag of chips in his hand. Off to another side, I boy with a puppy on his head was talking to a boy with a high collared white jacket and sunglasses. A pink haired girl was being rather loud as she tried to get the attention of a boy who for lack of better word looked emotionless. The boys parents looked at each other, obviously trying not to laugh. Naruto and Hinata recognized many of these children's parents as the heads of very prominent clans. The Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Inuzuka, Aburame and Uchiha clan heads were all present with their children. Seeing the Hyuuga clan heiress, the Uchiha clan head, Fugaku, walked up to her, Naruto and Ko.

"Hello Hinata-san, Naruto-san. I take it you will be joining my son in the academy this year?" He said.

"Hai, Fugaku-sama." Hinata said formally.

"Oh, Sasuke is going to be with us at the academy?" Naruto asked, clearly excited at actually knowing one of his classmates besides Hinata. Over the years, the Uchiha clan head and his family had visited the Hyuuga clan quite often for 'clan business'. In truth, they were just visiting so Mikoto could watch Naruto play with Hinata and Sasuke as they all became good friends. Hiashi and Hitomi—while she had still been alive—had always welcomed Fugaku and Mikoto to their home, as they were all friends, as well as being close to Minato before his passing.

"That's right Naruto-san. He's over there, being harassed- I mean talking to a pink haired girl. Would you mind saving him from her?" Fugaku asked Naruto.

Naruto was puzzled by this, "Why does he need saved if he's just talking to her? Is she trying to hurt him or something?"

"No, nothing like that. She just has a loud voice and obsessive personality, just like her mother. You may remember her from the few times you've had to be in the village council meetings with Hiashi-san. Her mother is Mebuki Haruno."

That was all Naruto needed to hear to go save his friend from the daughter of that banshee.

Hinata giggled at Fugaku's description as well as Naruto's antics. She looked up to the Uchiha and asked, "Is she really that bad?"

"Who, the girl or her mother?" Fugaku asked absentmindedly as he watch Naruto and Sasuke talking, much to the annoyance of the pink haired girl that would be identified soon as Sakura Haruno.

"The girl." Hinata confirmed.

"Honestly, I'm not sure yet. If she takes after her mother, then yes. If not, then probably not. We'll just have to wait and see. But my son did seem uncomfortable with her trying to gain his attention. So I figured I would help without embarrassing him. If only his brother could be here. He's out on a mission today."

"Itachi-san is out on a mission? That's too bad, I was hoping to ask him to help Naruto and me with our shuriken throwing. We still need a lot of practice. Maybe Sasuke-san would like to practice with us some time?" She asked herself.

Fugaku nodded before walking up to his son and bid him farewell for now. Other parents started to follow suit and soon it was just the students of the first year class. A chuunin with a friendly face and a scar across his nose walked out of the academy doors and introduced himself as Iruka Umino. He was going to be their homeroom teacher for the next four years as he—as he put it—molded them into the fine Shinobi they could become.

When they walked into the classroom, they noticed that the seats were arranged in sets of three. With three rows of three sets. This equaled a total of twenty-one seats for the twenty-one students who walked in. Iruka then explained that for the first year, there would be no assigned seating so that eveyone could get use to one another, as they would be in a three man team with two other students in this room in four years when they graduate. The students all milled about choosing their seats for the next ten minutes.

To save his friend, Naruto sat to Sasuke's right in the center seat in the set of seats next to the window in the front row. Hinata sat to Naruto's right. This caused most of the girls in the room to glare at Naruto for taking the seat next to their 'Sasuke-kun' and denying any of them the chance. Sasuke thanked him with a silent nod. Naruto smiled back and the rest of the day went smoothly as Iruka introduced all the subjects they would be studying in their first year at the academy.

 **A/N: Okay, so I need a little help with this next decision. I can go many ways with the next few chapters. But I want to give the readers what you all want. My question is this: Should I stick with canon Sasuke after the massacre, or should I let Naruto and Hinata's friendship with him draw him out of the shell that he will put up. I can roll with either.**

 **On another note, I decided to end the chapter here, as the first year at the academy will have enough to fill an entire chapter by itself. Before anyone asks, Mizuki is not coming in to the picture as a second teacher for the class until year two. Yes, he will hate Naruto. He will also hate Hinata since he is aware that she too has a part of the fox bound within her.**

 **As always, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I greatly look forward to any reviews you deem me worthy of receiving. They truly help a lot. I'll try to respond to each question in a way that will both satisfy your curiosity and not reveal too much. I'll most likely have another chapter posted in a few days as I like to write on my nights off from work. So for at least the next few chapters, you can expect two a week. I'll let you all know if and when I decide to slow down. But as per my initial promise, the slowest I'll go is two chapters a month. (Though I hope it doesn't slow down that much. I have too much fun writing this.)**

 **Finally, I know I haven't really written much to justify the M Rating I gave this fic. A few people have commented as much in private messages. I assure you that the scenes are coming. The first R Rated scene will probably be the fight with Mizuki. Dunno yet. A lot can change between now and then. I'll shut up now, no one likes unnecessarily long author's notes. Ha ha ha.**


	6. The Academy Days: Year One

**A/N: Well, the last chapter hit my first milestone twice as fast as I had hoped. I had hoped to get 1,000 views by chapter ten, but my hopes have been heavily beaten as my fic has broken 1,200 in less than 12 hours since chapter five has been posted. I cannot thank you all enough for the support you the readers have all given. I'm so very happy that my story has been seen with such positive reviews.**

 **Also, the poll on Sasuke will be up until I finish the second year of the academy. So far, my reviewers have commented on having him still being arogant as in canon, but not the jerk he's known to be. His friendship with Naruto and Hinata (which I will get more into in this chapter) is going to be his saving grace so far. We'll see how things go over the next few chapters. Uchiha clan massacre is still up in the air as well. Depends on reader input. I have plans in place that can go in either direction and this story is going to be shaped by the readers/reviewers just as much as it is me. In fact, reviewers have already given me ideas to start another story in a completely different direction. Though I will not be starting that fic anytime soon. I plan on focusing entirely on this one for the foreseeable future.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto-sensei won't even consider me unfortunately. You think we could change his mind?**

 _Chapter Six: The Academy Days: Year One_

As the second day of the academy started, Naruto couldn't help but notice that people were staring at him. More specifically, they were staring at his eyes. They had never seen eyes like that before. It almost reminded them of the Byakugan, but there was no way that is could be like that, right? After all, his last name was Uzumaki.

Finally, the most curious of the group spoke up during lunch. A blonde girl with a long pony tail walked up to him and spoke. "Hey, I'm Ino Yamanaka. You're Naruto Uzumaki, right?"

"That's right, I'm Naruto. And this is Hinata Hyuuga." He gestured to his left and pointed out a girl with indigo hair and pale lavender eyes.

"Hello." Hinata said curtly. She wasn't sure what to think of Ino just yet.

"So what did you come over for?" Naruto asked. "Probably to ask what everyone wants to know right?" Naruto said this just loud enough for anyone nearby to hear so that his answer to the inevitable question wouldn't have to be answered more than once. He hoped.

A bit embarrassed at being caught so easily, Ino blushed a bit and looked down at the ground mumbling an apology. She recovered then went ahead and asked anyways. "Well, since you saw through me so fast, yeah. I would love to know why your eyes look like that." She mumbled under her breath, not knowing that Naruto and Hinata would be able to hear her, "they look so pretty."

Naruto ignored this, though Hinata had a bit more trouble doing so. She wasn't sure why. Naruto went ahead and answered in the only way he figured would be good enough. " **Byakugan.** " He looked up at her and said, "It was a gift from my family. I was given my families bloodline ability."

Ino could see his eyes change to the Byakugan and she gasped at their beauty. They didn't look like the regular Byakugan, but that didn't take away from them in the slightest as far as she was concerned. Everyone else was listening intently, some of them openly staring in shock at hearing this. It was unheard of for a bloodline to be shared with someone who wasn't born with it, let alone someone who was adopted. Most of them didn't even know it was possible. I showed that the Hyuuga clan trusted Naruto completely with their most treasured and most guarded secret.

Shikamaru, sitting at the next table, wondered what Naruto could possible have done to have earned such a level of trust and respect from the noble Hyuuga clan. He didn't like not knowing something, so he would ponder this and look into any information he could until he solved this mystery.

Sasuke, having already been aware of this just smirked at the shocked expressions surrounding the blonde. He knew many of them would be trying to befriend or smooth talk Naruto just so they could find out how and why he had the Byakugan. He figured many of the students from the civilian family especially would be trying to learn if they too could gain access to a bloodline. The fools.

Shino did not outwardly show any surprise or shock. His clan was just too good at hiding emotion so as to make more logical decisions. He was interested, but no more than would be appropriate in this situation.

Kiba was wondering if that meant Naruto was learning the Hyuuga style of taijutsu as well. Being from the Inuzuka clan, taijutsu was kinda one of their specialties. If Naruto was learning the Gentle Fist, he would be a highly formidable training partner.

Ino was stuck staring into his eyes. It seemed to her that his eyes could look into her very soul. It was unnerving to say the least, but she just couldn't seem to look away. It wouldn't be until much later that she identified why this was.

Sakura was deep in thought, wondering if his eyes had all the powers of the Byakugan, or if it was a weaker version since he wasn't actually a Hyuuga. He could help her immensely either way, since she was very interested in learning all she could during the academy. She was determined to be the top of her class to show that even a civilian not from a clan can become a top rate Kunoichi.

Choji was... well... Choji. He was listening to be sure, but he simply didn't care. As long as Naruto was a good person, all would be fine. That, and he was busy eating, which was something that always took a priority from any member of the Akimichi clan.

After a brief moment of silence Ino thanked Naruto and apologized to him for seeming selfish or insensitive to a personal topic. "That's pretty cool Naruto. Thank you for sharing with me. I'm sorry if it was rude, I'm just a very curious person."

"It's no problem at all, I don't mind. There's nothing to apologize for, I promise." Naruto said evenly.

Sasuke, who was sitting next to Naruto spoke next. "Well Naruto, I can see from the looks on everyone's faces that not all either not all their questions were answered, or your answer gave them more questions. How about during recess we have a little spar and show them just what you can do? I'd be able to pay you back for last time and prove I can hold my own."

To say that the rest of the students around them were surprised would be an understatement. Uchiha were notoriously difficult to beat, but here they were hearing that Naruto had apparently beaten Sasuke in the past. Now recess was sounding very appealing.

After everyone finished eating they all headed to outside for recess. The 'playground' was actually more like a recreational sparring and target practice range. There were target dummies for both shuriken and kunai, as well as wooden dummies for practicing katas for various taijutsu styles. There was an area for one on one sparring large enough for numerous combatants to practice at the same time. There was also a large ring designed for only two people at a time. This is where everyone was standing, surrounding the ring as Naruto and Sasuke stared each other down waiting for their 'referee' to start the match.

Hinata had agreed to mediate the spar between her two friends. As she stood slightly off center between the two, she made sure the rules were in place. "Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san, this is a one on one spar. Any taijutsu style is allowed. Ninjutsu is also allowed as long as it does not cripple or maim. Same for your strikes. No crippling or vital strikes."

Both boys nodded in agreement. They had been training together, just the three of them, for just over a year now and knew the rules quite well. The explanation was more for the audience than anything. Naruto and Sasuke did like to put on a good show after all.

Hinata looked left, then right. "Alright, ready? Hajime!" she yelled.

As soon as she yelled to begin, the two boys took off at each other. Their speed wasn't all that impressive to a trained Shinobi, being at a low to mid genin level in speed. But for students only in their second day of their first year, it was highly impressive. They met in the middle with the Uchiha throwing a punch towards Naruto's solar plexus, knowing it would be blocked. Naruto, at the same time, threw both hands forward with chakra enhanced strikes. His left hand meeting Sasuke's fist while his right aimed for Sasuke's shoulder. Naruto was trying to make Sasuke's arm go numb to take it out of the fight early.

Sasuke reacted by ducking the blow, Naruto's open palm glancing the tips of Sasuke's hair. He then pulled back his blocked fist, planting it on the ground. At the same time he spun around showing his back to Naruto while lunging out with his left foot with a mule kick. Naruto back flipped out of the way to avoid what would have been a very painful blow.

Sasuke continued his spin with the momentum of his kick as he rose back up into a ready stance. "Well Naruto, I think we've limbered up. Ready to get serious? It's time to show you just how much better I've gotten. I'll leave you in the dust, mark my words."

"You wish, Sasuke. **Byakugan**." Naruto activated his eyes, getting gasps from the audience as they saw the veins appear beside his eyes as they changed color. Naruto took up the Gentle Fist stance and waited.

Sasuke smirked. "Hn." Sasuke's eyes suddenly changed from jet black to red with black pupils. He had one black coma in each eye, showing he had learned to activate the first and lowest stage of the Sharingan.

Naruto saw this and smiled brightly. "Sasuke, you activated your Sharingan! When? How? Congratulations!"

"Hn. Don't get excited yet, dobe." Sasuke took up the standard Uchiha taijutsu stance. It's a style that is highly ineffective without the use of the Sharingan to read an opponent's body movement as it is a style that relies heavily on reactions and counter attacks.

"No way, teme. I'm excited to finally fight you with the Sharingan, so don't hold back!" Naruto exclaimed loudly as he lunged forward with an open handed Jyuuken strike. Sasuke was able to read Naruto's movements better now, almost as if he was moving slightly slower than he had before. It wasn't much of a difference, but it was enough to level the field. They went back and forth with their strikes for about four minutes without landing a single strike against each other. The audience was surprised and excited at seeing such a display during their first week of school. True, their forms were sloppy and unrefined to any Shinobi with even the slightest bit of training, but again these were just first year academy students. It was impressive for their age and level of instruction.

Iruka was on his way back to the academy from his lunch break when he saw a circle of excited children surrounding one of the training rings. He assumed it was a 'playground' brawl between two students that didn't get along. _'Only the second day and already I have students at each others throats. Kami-sama, what did I do to deserve this so soon.'_

Iruka approached the ring ready to break up a fight, but instead of seeing an all out brawl he saw a structured spar complete with a mediator. He asked one of the students who he identified as one Kiba Inuzuka, "How long have they been sparring?"

Startled and nervous that they might get in trouble he couldn't help but sweat as he answered honestly. "About five minutes now, Iruka-sensei." Iruka could tell he was nervous.

"It's okay Kiba, no one is in trouble. I can see they have no intention of turning this into a brawl. I'm just curious to see what they know. Honestly this makes it easier, as I was going to have a bit of a sparring tournament this afternoon to judge who has any kind of training already, as well as who needs the most work on taijutsu."

Kiba was relieved, but was quickly broken out of it as they heard the unmistakable call of a jutsu.

" **Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu** " Sasuke let loose a fireball about three feet tall as it sailed towards Naruto. With hardly any time to react Naruto let loose the only water style technique he knew in the hopes that it would be enough.

" **Water Style: Violent Water Wave** " Naruto shouted as he expelled a decent amount of water out of his mouth. It was roughly the same amount of water that Sasuke had expelled in fire for his technique. The two Jutsu met in the middle and exploded in a small amount of steam.

Iruka was mildly surprised that two students were able to use any kind of elemental jutsu already, but considering they both came from the two strongest clans in the village decided it was only natural. It wasn't as if the jutsu were all that powerful. Maybe low genin at the strongest. Neither jutsu would cause serious damage. What Iruka didn't know was that both boys were holding back so as not to involve their audience in the spar. They were just putting on a good show. It was almost as if they had already planned to have this little fight to show off to their fellow students.

After the steam from the two jutsu colliding disipated, Naruto and Sasuke met in the middle once more to continue their taijutsu bout. Jyuuken met Uchiha style in the middle and they again went toe to toe without landing a single strike for a good three minutes. Hinata was off the the side of the ring watching intently with her Byakugan just in case she needed to call the match at any time. She was happy to see that both of her best friends had come so far since they first started training.

Iruka watched in silent amazement that he was going to have such exceptional students in his first year as a homeroom teacher. He just knew this class would be very influential one day, and NOT because it was full of clan heirs and heiresses. No, this class would prove influential one day because they would all grow up to be powerful and exceptional Shinobi and Kunoichi.

Finally a strike was landed. Naruto had landed a chakra enhanced strike to Sasuke's right shoulder, throwing off his balance. Naruto quickly followed up the strike with another to Sasuke's left hip, sending the Uchiha to the ground. Before he could react, he opened his eyes to see Naruto's open palm inches away from his face.

Hinata called the fight. "The winner, Naruto Uzumaki." She rushed over to congratulate him as he helped Sasuke to his feet.

Sasuke scowled, "Damn it..." he muttered. "Not again." He then spoke a bit louder, "Looks like you win again. Though not nearly as quickly this time. I'll beat you yet."

Naruto just smiled. "I won't make it easy for you. I'll keep getting better and better too. I have to if I'm going to protect my friends and family." As he said this, Iruka walked up and congratulated the two on a great spar. He then asked, "Do you two know about the traditions surrounding the sign of reconciliation?" Both boys shook their heads no. "I'll be teaching it to the class later. For now, get cleaned up and head to the class room, recess is about to end and we have a lot to cover." He said this last bit loud enough for the audience to hear, even over their murmuring about the awesome fight they just saw. They all agreed that fighting with either one of these two would be a bad idea right now.

After class

As Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata were leaving the academy they were stopped by their classmates who wanted to talk to them after the spar but didn't get the chance because class was beginning. Kiba spoke up first.

"Man you guys, that was a great fight earlier. How did you guys learn those jutsu? I would love to learn some myself." His excitement could practically be tasted in the air.

"Hn," was Sasuke's only reply. He didn't really talk to many people besides his friends and family, and he was most open with Naruto, Hinata and Itachi.

"Well, Sasuke here probably learned it from his clan. It's kinda a rite of passage with the Uchiha after all." Naruto explained. "As for me, I found a jutsu scroll in our clan library when me and Hinata-chan were doing some research a long time ago."

Hinata spoke next, "It was really surprising to find it, too."

Ino's curiousity was acting up yet again. "Why is that?" she asked.

Hinata answered, "Well, the Hyuuga clan mostly focuses on our Gentle Fist and refining our chakra control and Byakugan. Traditionally we don't use many jutsu, and most of the ones we do are using the Gentle Fist."

"Oh." That was Ino's only response, her curiosity sated on this topic.

"So what are you guys up to now?" Sakura asked. "We were going to head to the park to hang out until our parents got here to meet us. They probably want to know how our first _real_ day here went."

"We are waiting for Ko-san. He's our escort and guard anytime we leave the compound." Naruto responded.

This time it was Shikamaru who was curious. "Wait, you two need a guard just to leave your compound? Troublesome..."

Hinata looked down at the ground, feeling kinda out of place after that comment. "Well, our father is a bit protective of us. He just wants to make sure we're safe."

"A bit?" Ino asked increduously. "I'd say that's more than a bit. That's just crazy. If my To-san did that to me I'd go insane with boredom."

Naruto tilted his head a bit with his eyes closed and his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. It made him look very fox-like with his whiskers and all. "Well, it is a kinda formal. I'm not really that good with formal stuff. It makes me feel... what's a good word?"

"Smothered?" Sasuke suggested. "Hiashi-sama smothers you both and you know it."

"Sasuke-san," Hinata interjected. "It's not like that, honest. He has a good reason to be protective and you know it."

Sasuke got the hint and dropped it, but Ino's curiosity was at it yet again. "What do you mean?" she asked. "What kind of reason does he have to be so protective of you?"

Hinata realized she had just put her foot in her mouth, so to speak. She was referring to the fox, as they had told Sasuke a year ago about it when they started training together. So he knew their secret. But she didn't want to tell the others just yet. After all, they had only just met yesterday and, even though they seemed like great people and would likely be great friends one day, this wasn't something to take lightly.

Luckily, Naruto caught on rather quickly and came up with a reasonable excuse. "Well..." he started, pausing for effect. "Two years ago, back when Kumo sent that guy here to sign some kind of treaty, Hinata-chan and me were kidnapped..."

Ino gasped, as did the majority of those present. The only two who didn't besides the two in question were Sasuke, who knew, and Shikamaru, who was always listening in on his parents when they discussed what went on in the village at meals. He may be lazy, but he was both intelligent and curious. A deadly combination at times, which he would learn in the future.

"Really? What happened?" Ino asked when she recovered from this most recent shock.

"Well, it was the ambassador from Kumo who took us," Hinata explained. "He was killed and we were rescued by Oto-san and the Anbu." It wasn't technically a lie, but they didn't need to know that it was Hinata who had killed the man. She didn't even remember how it happened. She just remembered coming to while standing over his lifeless form covered in blood. His blood. The memory made her shiver.

Ino noticed the shiver and decided to drop it, seeing how something like that could be very traumatic. She was from the Yamanaka clan after all, and her clan taught from a very young age about the workings of the mind and the effects that can happen to it.

"Wow, I'm sorry." was all Ino could say. "Anyways," she changed topic, "would you three like to join us in the park until that Ko person gets here?"

"Hn, no thanks. I need to train." That was all Sasuke said as he walked towards the Uchiha compound.

"Hinata-sama, Naruto-sama, it's time to go." Ko had just walked around the corner and saw the two children talking with what he assumed were there new friends. "I'm sorry, but your father has requested that you both come to his study as soon as class let out." He said this gently, but firmly at the same time. This left no room for argument. Not that they would have anyways. The two knew that more questions would be brought up. And they weren't ready to answer too many more yet.

"Goodbye everyone, we'll see you tomorrow." Naruto waved goodbye to his new friends as he walked away.

"Gomen," Hinata said as she bowed to her new classmates. "But we must meet Oto-san right away."

It turns out, Hiashi just wanted to know how their day went before they started their daily training with him, as well as propose something to his daughter. They had progressed fairly well in the last two years, but they still had a long way to go as far as Hiashi was concerned. Naruto had taken to the style rather well, despite not being born a Hyuuga. Hinata, however, was having trouble with the Gentle fist. She was adept enough for her age, but she was falling behind. This worried Hiashi, as they couldn't have a weak heiress.

So he started digging in the clan archives for anything that could help. He started doing his research into past clan techniques a month before the academy started and still he had little progress. But what he had found so far was promising. When Naruto and Hinata knocked and entered his study he had a slight smirk on his face. This told the two children that Hiashi had found something to put him in a good mood.

"Hello, Hiashi-Tosan. You look really happy today. Did the elder's finally drop?" Naruto asked smiling at his little joke.

Hinata giggle a bit as Hiashi gave a light chuckle saying, "No Naruto, not yet. Those old fossils are not so easy to get rid of." He had genuine amusement in his voice. "No, actually I found something that may help Hinata here."

Hinata was very happy and excited to hear this. "You found something to help with my failure at learning the Gentle Fist?"

"Hinata, you are not a failure. I have told you before that not everyone in our clan is proficient in our style, that is why we have sub styles. To answer your question, I have. It's a clan bylaw that will allow us to forego your training in the more advanced katas of the Gentle Fist and instead work on adapting it to your own personal strengths. The bylaw states that 'If a member of the clan has proven to be ineffective to a certain degree in the standard katas of the Gentle Fist, said member may request of the clan head to learn one of the sub styles developed to cover any inconsistencies. However, if no such style exists that fits with the Hyuuga in question, the council may grant the development of a new style for the betterment of the clan.' This means that with the council's 'approval' you can begin to develop your own style of the Gentle Fist so that you may maintain your position as heiress."

Hinata was disappointed to hear that non of the clan's sub styles were suited to her, but was excited at the thought of creating her own style. It would take a lot of hard work over many years, but she would tackle the challenge with everything she had to probe to the fossils in the council that she was strong.

"But, Oto-san... how will we get the council's approval?"

"But that's just it, Hinata, I have already gotten their approval. I will not tell you how, as you do not need to know that just yet. Just know that they approve on the conditions that you must have the basic katas of your new form fully developed and combat ready by the time you make chuunin. I am confident that you can achieve this and agreed to this with the council on your behalf. I know you'll make me proud. The next condition is that you must develop your new style without my help. I am sorry, but I could not sway them on this. They seemed adamant. However, that just means you will have no problems proving to them once and for all that you have what it takes to lead this clan when you succeed. You'll do fine."

Hearing his tone of voice, the two children knew he was dismissing them. So they bowed and said goodbye as they walked out of the office. Naruto was excited for Hinata. She would finally show those old fossils what she was made of. Hinata, on the other hand, was excited and very, very nervous. She didn't have any clue where to begin developing her own style. She didn't even know what her strengths were, let alone how to incorporate them into the Gentle Fist. Luckily, as her father had said, she had plenty of time to figure it out. At least six years, if traditions were followed. Five if they weren't.

One month later

The academy was getting more and more boring every day for Naruto. He already knew everything they had gone over since day one. It was all chakra theory classes and the academy style of taijutsu. Those from a clan with it's own style were exempt from the latter of the two. Though he opted into it just for something new. It was almost as boring as the chakra theory classes, almost.

Hinata on the other hand, opted out of the taijutsu classes, focusing instead on trying to find some kind of basis for her own style during her free period. A month of searching and still no answer had come to her. She just didn't know where her strengths were, if she had any. She was beginning to doubt herself. Luckily, any time she tried to voice this, Naruto would remind her that she had plenty of time and that he believed in her. This was almost always enough to silence the doubt in her heart.

So one day, she had had enough. She approached Iruka-sensei one day during her free period and asked him if he could help her with something. She explained that she was 'tasked' by the council to create a new style of Gentle Fist that was more compatible with herself and her strengths. She then explained that she didn't know what her unique strengths were.

He agreed to help her today by watching her go through her clans katas and point out where her weaknesses and strengths were. He watched her move from form to form in an almost agonizingly slow way that would strain the muscles of anyone not familiar with the style. After she was done she approached him and he explained what he saw from an outside perspective.

"Hinata, it seems that the Gentle fist relies on two things. A rigid form based upon a solid foundation, and quick and precise strikes that left little to no time to react. You have the quickness and precision down it seems. But the rigid form is where you're having your trouble. I want you to try a few forms for me. I will explain them and you will try to move through them at the same time."

She nodded in agreement as he explained the forms. The first one was a solid stance with feet at shoulder length apart with elbows bent at ninety degree angles at her side. It was as if she was supposed to be some kind of stone in the wind, strong and unrelenting. She had a hard time staying in the form for long as it relied on core strength to an absurd degree as he circled her, nudging her in various directions as she had to try to maintain her stance.

"This one's no good. It's too rigid and un-moving." Iruka new this one would be no good, but he had her do the exercise anyways to be thorough. Next was a style that relied on leg strength. She was to tak a low crouch position with one leg underneath her while the other was extended out in front of her. Her left leg was her forward leg, putting most of the weight on her right. Her right arm was at her side, elbow bent at a ninety degree angle similar to the last stance, but her left arm was aimed forward parallel to her leg. It was uncomfortable and she almost instantly fell out of it.

"Hmm..." Iruka said. "I didn't think your strength would lie in your legs, but we had to check, right?"

She only nodded as she got up. They went through several more stances and forms looking for one that was both comfortable and fitting. None of them were what they needed until the last form. An idea stuck Iruka as he noticed something he hadn't before.

"Okay, Hinata, are you ready to try one more. I think I've narrowed it down to one that will be perfect for identifying your strengths.

Again she nodded, not speaking as she was very exhausted from the exercises she was going through. He directed her into a standing position and had her move through various stretches, bending in ways she hadn't thought of before. She easily moved from one bend to another as Iruka identified exactly what her strength was.

"You can stop now Hinata. Why don't you sit down and rest while I explain what I just discovered?"

She complied, clearly excited despite her exhaustion. She had been at this for quite a while. Four hours, as they had lost track of time and her free period was coming to an end. Iruka didn't know where she got her energy from. She was just a stamina monster, just like her stepbrother.

"Well Hinata, we ruled out core strength, leg strength, rigid forms, reactive forms, high power forms with little movement, low power forms with high movement from one kata to another, and many others. However, I have found the strength that you need to create your own form. It lies in you unparalleled flexibility and speed. I've met jounin who couldn't move with half the ease your lithe form is capable of. If you need to create a new form, it is one that should rely on your incredible flexibility and speed."

Hinata's face lit up in realization. None of the Hyuuga styles were flexible at all. Yes, there were many different styles that were as different as a tree was to a stone, but almost all of them were rigid forms. No, she needed a form as different from the rest as the sun was to the moon. She now had a basis.

"Thank you so much, Iruka-sensei. You have no idea just how much you have helped me. With this, I can make my Oto-san proud!" Hinata jumped up and hugged Iruka firmly before blushing at the familiar gesture she had just given her teacher. She released him, still blushing, "Gomennasai! I didn't mean to do that."

"It's okay Hinata, you were just excited. Your welcome and good luck. I'm sorry buy I need to go, I have a meeting soon and we lost track of time here." And with that, Iruka left for a meeting with a few of the other academy instructors.

Class was let out only a few minutes later and Hinata met up with Naruto to share what she had just learned before heading out to one of the private training grounds of the Hyuuga clan to get started. Naruto was all too happy to help her develop her new style. It would take many years, but they were confident it could be done.

Two months later

It's been three months since the academy started and it was finally about to get exciting, or at least that's how Naruto saw it. They were going to start learning the three core jutsu of the academy that were required to graduate at the end of their fourth year. These jutsu were the **Transformation Jutsu, Replacement Jutsu,** and **Clone Jutsu**. Each week this month would be dedicated to going over the basics for each jutsu with the fourth week being a review for anything the students needed help with.

The first two weeks were easy for Naruto and Hinata as the jutsu didn't fail when too much chakra was pumped into them. In fact, the two created a whole new Jutsu called the **True Transformation Jutsu** on accident when they pumped so much chakra into the **Transformation Jutsu** That it caused a literal shapeshift instead of an illusion. Not that they realized this right away. They didn't notice it until later in the week when they were practicing at home and the Byakugan couldn't see through the 'Illusion'. After Hiashi put them through several tests, the discovery was made and kept secret. After all, misinformation is a ninja's greatest tool.

The second week was the Replacement, and it came quite easily to the two. It was almost as if trickery was in their very blood the way they took to these jutsu. They were able to replace themselves with chairs, logs and other large objects by the end of the week. Though they still had difficulty with smaller objects.

The third week is when things started going downhill. The clones they made were pitiful to say the least. They looked thin, pale, and all around very sick. By the end of the week they were very frustrated. Luckily the Byakugan works for many things, including watching the chakra pathways when learning new jutsu. Because of this, Hinata was able to realize that the failure was because they were putting too much chakra into the technique without realizing it. So using the precise chakra control exercises of the Hyuuga, the two were able to minimize their chakra output to the absolute lowest they could. It was still too much to create one clone, however if they used the same amount of chakra to create ten clones, then they were successful, though only just barely.

During the fourth week the two brought this to the attention of Iruka. He then brought it up with the Hokage, who set the curriculum for the academy. It was decided that a new test was to be added to the academy. Though it isn't the kind of test one would be able to fail. It was a test to determine students chakra levels on a numerical scale.

"Okay class, we are going to be trying something new today." This got a lot of attention. Everyone hoped it would be a new jutsu or technique of some kind. "Today we're going to measure everyone's chakra capacity to see what kind of jutsu and techniques you are capable of learning in the future. Remember, your chakra capacity would continue to increase as you train and grow."

It wasn't jutsu, but it was the next best thing in most of their minds. It showed them what kind of potential they had. Iruka then went to explain how the measurement worked. "The Hokage had a seal drawn onto a metal plate that sits on the ground and connects to the wall under the chalk board. When your name is called, you well stand on the plate and I will activate the seal. This will detect your standard chakra capacity and display it on the chalk board in numerical form. The standard measurement goes as follows:

Academy Student – 1-10 CR

Genin – 11-50 CR

Chunin – 51-200 CR

Special Jounin – 201-500 CR

Jounin – 501-1000 CR

Kage – 1001-5000 CR

S-Rank+ 5001+

SR stands for Chakra Rating, which is the standard scale used to measure the chakra of any living thing. Remember students, it's quite possible for someone to be born with a chakra capacity well above their actual skill level. Also, this seal was designed many years ago by our very own Yondaime Hokage." When Iruka said this, he noticed Naruto and Hinata shift uncomfortably while the rest of the class murmured in excitement. "This means the seal is of the highest quality and as such is 100% acurate."

He looked around the class making sure everyone was paying close attention. They were. Good.

"In alphabetical order by last name, first up is Shino Aburame."

 **(A/N: to save myself from having to create 12 civilian OC's I'm going to skip over them. The less OC's I have in the beginning the better in my oppinion.)**

Shino moved up to the front of the class and stood on the plate. Using the tiger hand sign, Iruka activated the seal and the number 9/11 appeared on the chalk board. Iruka spoke up once more. "Okay class, I have a short explanation as to why Shino has two numbers. Simply put, his clan has a unique circumstance that eats away at their chakra. The first number is their usable capacity while the second is their max capacity." The class accepted this.

"Choji Akimichi"

Choji stepped forward and his number appeared as well. It was 16, as he had been eating since he woke up and his clans bloodline converted calories into chakra.

"Sakura Haruto"

Her chakra measurement was 5.

"Hinata Hyuuga."

This is where things got interesting. When she stepped onto the plate and Iruka activated it, the sealing matrix lit up for a moment and while the number appeared on the chalkboard and continued to rise until it stopped on an impossible number. Or rather, _two_ impossible numbers. 250/90,850.

The class gasped in surprise and Iruka was shocked. He knew she was a Jinchuuriki. The Hokage had told him that she would have two numbers. He knew they would both be high, with the second number representing the half of the fox within her. But he did not expect this. Luckily his explanation earlier had set up the ground work to use a cover story that the Hokage had come up with for this situation.

"Settle down class. I'll explain this after the measurements are done, as she is probably not the only one to have incredibly high numbers." The class slowly quieted down at the promise of an explanation.

"Kiba Inuzuka."

10

"Shikamaru Nara"

7

"Sasuke Uchiha."

23

More murmurs. Though, no where near as much as Hinata.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

280/92,925

This got the class just as riled up as Hinata's measurement did. Eventually Iruka managed to settle down the class to get the last student.

"Ino Yamanaka."

8

"Now then," Iruka started. "Would Naruto and Hinata please come to the front so I can discuss something with you?"

Naruto and Hinata both walked up to Iruka where he held a quiet conversation with them that no one else in the class could hear no matter how hard they tried.

"Naruto, Hinata, I know you're both nervous. I know why your numbers are so high, and I know that you know why as well. The Hokage and I have come up with a convincing explanation as to why your numbers are so incredibly high. However, Sandaime-sama said that he would like to give the two of you a chance to reveal the truth to your friends if you wish. So if you want to, you have permission to reveal the secret to them now. If not, I will use Sandaime-sama's explanation instead."

Naruto and Hinata looked at Iruka with shock. After a moment they recovered and looked at one another. Their eyes locked, they seemed to have come to some kind of agreement through eye contact alone.

Naruto spoke first. "Iruka-sensei, we appreciate the offer, but we aren't ready to reveal this yet. It's not that we don't trust our friends, we trust them very much. But we don't want to burden them with this yet. It is a heavy thing to bear. We have already talked to each other about this quite a bit."

Hinata spoke next. "However, Iruka-sensei, we would like to hear the Hokage's explanation here first. That way, if we don't like it we can reveal ourselves anyways. And if we do like it, then we can play along until we are ready to say otherwise. We don't really like to lie..."

Iruka nodded. "Very well, Hokage-sama told me to tell the class that Naruto has such a high chakra capacity due to the clan that he comes from, the Uzumaki clan. Naruto, your clan and history are part of the second year studies and the class would be told as much. I trust you are already aware of your own clan history?" Naruto nodded. It was one of the subjects covered during the past two years since the Blood Rite. "As for Hinata, we were going to lie and say that it was her blood used in the ritual that gave you the Byakugan, and as such, her chakra capacity was raised to almost match yours."

Naruto and Hinata thought about this for a moment. Hinata broke the silence first. "Iruka-sensei, that does make sense for the first number, but I don't think it will convince them for the second one. It's just too large."

Iruka nodded, he thought as much. Neither he nor the Hokage thought the number would be as high as it was. "So what do you want to do then? We can't just leave the class without an explanation, it would lead to too many complications for you both in the long run."

They sighed, knowing they were going to have to reveal the secret sooner than they though. Naruto spoke up next. "We'll use your excuse for the civilian members of the class, they don't know how bloodlines really work. But our friends from the other clans won't believe it, so we need to tell them the truth. Can you call them up here so we can tell them separate from the rest of the class?"

Iruka did just that, calling them all out into the hall instead of in front of the class. Naruto and Hinata told their friends the truth out in the hall where their reactions wouldn't be a dead give-away to the rest of the class. Because they knew it would get out to her anyways, they told Sakura as well even though she wasn't part of a clan and could technically be considered a friend. While this was happening, Iruka told the rest of the class the excuse and explained that the ones sent into the hall with Naruto and Hinata were being given a more in depth explanation, as clans were privy to more knowledge on the subject of bloodlines. The class accepted this.

Out in the hall, the reactions were all the same except for Sasuke who already knew. They were shocked. Suddenly, a lot of things made sense. They now knew why some of their aquantances were secretly hostile to the two, as well as why Naruto and Hinata were kept in the clan compound so much. It made more sense why they had a guard/escort. Naruto and Hinata were afraid that they were about to lose their friends. However, to their surprise, all of their friends accepted them, as clans taught their children much earlier than civilians, and the clan heirs and heiresses present knew the difference between the kunai and the scroll it's sealed in.

The only exception was Sakura. Not being from a clan, she didn't know much about Fuinjutsu. But after seeing the rest of her friends accept the two, she followed suit. She trusted her friends and knew that she could count on them and their judgment. The children all filed back into the classroom after a few moments of silence to digest what they had just learned. They all agreed to meet up after class to hear more details. Naruto and Hinata heartily agreed to the request, relieved that they were accepted.

The rest of the class went by without any kind of interruption, all of the student caught up in the subject of Chakra Ratings and how to increase your capacity. Iruka was glad that no-one questioned his explanation, as well as the fact that those who learned the truth didn't make a scene.

After class, the Konoha 9 all met up in the 'playground' as the rest of the students all went home. It would be a little bit before their parents came to collect them, as they had all been informed of the gathering going on with the children. The Hokage had informed the parents to come one hour later than normal as the extra time was going to be needed for extra emphasis on a subject covered in class that day. The parents didn't question his request and complied.

Naruto and Hinata explained everything. From the attack eight years ago, to Naruto's parentage, to the Kidnapping two years ago. Everything was revealed.

The rest of the year passed uneventful. The Konoha 9 became great friends after that day and eventually started training together where they were finally submitted to the grueling torture... I mean training that Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke had been undergoing to reach the level they had.

 **A/N: Thank you all for reading. Wow, this one was a long one. I expected it, but it still managed to surprise me. My poll from the previous chapter(s) is still open. There's still plenty of time for the events of the massacre to play out without having to change the story. Like I said last time, I have contingencies in place for either event.**

 **Also, please leave a review to let me know what you think of the twists I put in place this time. I really appreciate the feed back and it helps me refine the story in ways I hadn't imagined before. I borrowed some ideas from those who have already reviewed the past chapters, so who know. Maybe your idea could make it in to the story. The next chapter will be on the second year of the academy. I probably won't begin writing it until sometime next week at the earliest. Until then, enjoy!**


	7. The Academy Days: Year Two

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Only Kishimoto-sensei has that honor. I'll just keep dreaming and maybe one day it'll come true.**

 **A/N: I went with a slightly different writing style in this chapter to see if it worked better than the last chapter as it was brought to my attention that the last chapter raised more questions than it answered and brought things in to light in a way that wasn't intended. I inadvertently made the last chapter rather confusing in some areas that I didn't mean to. I apologize. Hopefully this chapter is better. It's quite a bit shorter than the last one, but I think it covers everything that I have planned for this point in the story.**

 **One last thing, I would like some input on weather or not the Uchiha massacre should happen. I would appreciate some feedback on this, weather it be in the form of a poll or just some pm's. I'll only be posting this chapter this week, I think... So as always, please enjoy.**

Chapter 7: The Academy Days: Year Two

It was the start of a new year. Naruto and Hinata were going about their same routine they had developed over the last year. Breakfast with the family, followed by light sparring in the courtyard, then the walk to the academy where they met up with their first friend Sasuke. They would go about their day making sure to do their best in class. After class they would all head to training ground one, the smallest of them all. As the smallest, it wasn't used that often. They would train there for a few hours before heading home to continue their ongoing lessons with Hiashi.

During the summer, the time normally spent in class would be split up. One day they would train the whole day with Sasuke, the next they would concentrate on lessons with Hiashi. Sunday would be their day of rest and fun. It was intense training for them going all out all the time with them being so young and all.

But that was during the summer. Class starts today and it's time for them to return to the academy. It was an exciting day, since they would be learning more about the world of Shinobi this year. The first year was spent learning and practicing the basics. It got very boring after a while. This year would be spent learning about Shinobi history, formation strategy, village history and affairs, clan histories, and key figures that the genin hopefuls may have to interact with throughout their careers.

While the clan students already knew the clan histories and key figures, most of them had little knowledge of the rest. Though, Naruto did have one clan history he was very interested to learn about. Today he'd find out when that unit of study was to begin when the curriculum for the year was given to the students. He was interested in the history of his own clan, the Uzumaki Clan. He was the last known survivor of the clan and wanted to learn much more about his heritage.

This was what was on his mind as he and Hinata walked to their usual meeting spot to walk to the academy with Sasuke. Seeing he was deep in thought, Hinata in turn started thinking more about the coming year, though with a bit less excitement than Naruto. Sure, learning some of this would be both beneficial and somewhat fun, but the only things she didn't already know were the clan histories outside of the Hyuuga and formation strategy. As heir to the Hyuuga clan, she was already well versed in customs and village affairs.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata finally broke the silence that had developed during their walk.

"Hmm? Did you say something Hinata-chan?" Naruto was broken out of his deep thought by Hinata. He realized he was probably worrying her with his silence.

"Naruto-kun, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing like that Hinata-chan. I was just thinking about the coming year. I have so many questions that may be answered this year. I just hope I don't have to wait too long."

"I hope you don't have to wait too long either. I'm so happy that you will finally get to learn about your clan." Hinata was genuinely happy for her best friend. Though they were step siblings and knew as much, they never acted like they were anything but the best of friends. It was a strange relationship to say the least.

Naruto changed topics to something else he was excited for. They had finally gotten someone to oversee their training after school, in a most unlikely way. "Hinata-chan, do you think we will learn any new jutsu or techniques that aren't covered in the academy? Sasuke says our new teacher is going to start with us today when he isn't out on missions."

"Oh yeah, Sasuke-san never told you who he got to teach us did he?" Hinata giggled at Naruto's annoyance. Sasuke had told them two weeks ago that he had finally convinced a great Shinobi to help the three of them, but refused to tell Naruto who is was just to annoy his best friend. Hinata knew of course, but she would wait to see Naruto's priceless reaction.

"You know he didn't. That teme won't tell me anything..." Naruto pondered this for a moment. "It really ticks me off that he won't tell me!"

Hinata giggled again at Naruto's antics. "I'll give you a hint." Naruto looked at her with curiosity clear in his eyes. "He just recently joined the Anbu Black Ops."

This confused Naruto even more, as he didn't know much about the Anbu other than some of them watch over the two of them from time to time when they aren't at home in the Hyuuga compound. "That tells me a whole lot. Dammit... now I can't wait even more!"

Hinata couldn't help but giggle at him yet again as they made it to their usual meeting spot. "Good Morning Sasuke-san."

"Morning Hinata, Naruto." Sasuke was wearing his usual outfit with that ridiculous high collar. "Ready?"

"Hai, lets go. You're killing me with all this mystery... The sooner we get to class, the sooner we time will pass so we can get to training after. I doubt Iruka-sensei will have us doing much on the first day anyways..." Naruto's annoyance was clear in his voice.

At the Academy

The trio got to class and was seated in their usual spots just as class started. Iruka walked into the classroom with his usual clipboard and started roll call. Once everyone was confirmed present, Iruka cave his plan for the year. It seems there would be just a bit more than what they had thought.

"Hokage-sama has added one more thing to the second year classes this year," Iruka explained. "As a result of the increasingly competitive nature of the Shinobi world, Hokage-sama has decided that we will be adding a once a week period in which students may choose to get with specialized instructors to work on any individual talents you may want to specialize in such as Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu and even Kenjutsu. More specialists are being recruited to teach as time progresses so there is no telling what kind of options you may have in the future. These special classes will start in one month." Iruka then went on to explain the rest of the years curriculum. It seems the unit Naruto was waiting for the most would be in their third month of class.

Just as Naruto predicted, other than that and a review of what everyone had learned last year, nothing really happened in class. They mostly just discussed any tips that the students who practiced over the summer had found about the academy jutsu.

After Class

Naruto lets out a large yawn as he walks out of the academy building. "Well that was boring. Other than that announcement in the beginning of class this was probably the most boring day of class yet."

"Hn." Sasuke just grunted in agreement.

"Well, Iruka-sensei just wanted to make sure that all of us remembered what we learned last year." Hinata was always defending everyone. Just one of her kind habits she had picked up.

"Still," Naruto began. "It wouldn't kill him to throw something exciting in once in a while..." Naruto grumbled about stupid teachers with their stupid, boring classes as they walked to training ground one. Being the smallest, it was hardly ever used. That made it perfect for the young trio. As the three got close enough to see the training ground in the distance it brought back some good memories of when they had first started using it, as well as when they had started learning jutsu.

 _Flashback: Six months before their first year_

 _The trio had come to their usual training ground that was open to the public. It was one of only three to not be restricted to Shinobi use only. Training ground one was too small to be practical so no one ever used it. Training ground two was a barren field with a large target dummy in the center. This field was primarily used by certain shop keepers to ensure their goods were up to standards. Everything from kunai to explosive tags were tested here. Training ground three was a forested area with three wooden posts set up in the center next to a small pond. It was too small for anyone but genin to use so it rarely saw any action as most jonin sensei preffered to use slightly larger ones. However training ground three wasn't abandoned like one was, so the trio stuck with the first one unless they needed a bigger area and the third one was available._

 _On this day, the trio were all trying to learn jutsu before they even started the academy. Sasuke was still trying to get the hang of the **Fireball Jutsu** his clan were so famous for. Hinata was practicing the kata for the gentle fist. Naruto was trying to learn a jutsu from a scroll he had picked up during one of their trips to the clan library. He had found it behind some dusty books that looked like they hadn't been read in years. Since it was a section on the history of the village pertaining to the non-clan Shinobi it probably hadn't been touched in a very long time. Why the scroll was there, Naruto had no clue. But it was, and it had built up a large amount of dust itself, so it had likely been forgotten long ago._

 _When he had opened it, it contained a weak D-Rank water style jutsu. It was so simple that you didn't even need a water affinity to learn it properly. Kinda like the weak D-Rank fire jutsu that most Leaf Shinobi learned at some point in their careers that his friend liked to practice so much. Like most D-Rank jutsu, they weren't all that dangerous when first learned. It was only after long hours of practice and perfecting the techniques that they became forces not to trifle with._

 _He was practicing again, going through the hand signs he had memorized from the scroll long ago. The most he had managed to do was spew forth about a gallon and a half of water before his concentration broke and the jutsu failed. 'I have to get this,' Naruto thought to himself. It's supposed to be an easy jutsu, so he figured he'd have it done in a week or two, but he was wrong. It had taken him nearly two months to get this far. At this rate, Sasuke would complete his fireball before Naruto could get the hang of his **Violent Water Wave** to a usable level._

" _Dammit!" Naruto shouted in frustration, breaking the concentration of his two friends who had been practicing their own jutsu and techniques._

" _Naruto-kun, what is it?" Hinata asked._

" _He probably still can't get his jutsu," Sasuke said. "Face it Naruto, the scroll is probably no good. It probably has missing information or something. That is probably why it was forgotten in the first place."_

 _Naruto scowled. "No, I won't give up. I HAVE to get this."_

" _Why?" Sasuke asked. He couldn't figure out why Naruto was so fixated on this one jutsu. It wasn't like water style was a specialty of Konoha._

" _Because one day I wan't to be able to master all five natures, just like Hokage-jiji. That means I have to get this one if I'm going to learn anything harder one day. I'll surpass the old man one day. I'll surpass all the previous Hokage, just you watch!" Naruto flashed his fox like smile. "I'll be the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen to protect everyone." Naruto's voice had fallen to a more tolerable level at this point. "That way, none of my friends ever have to be hurt."_

 _Flashback End_

Now in the training ground, Naruto looked around. Not seeing anyone, he turned to Sasuke and asked what was going on. "Sasuke, there's no one here. Are you sure this teacher you keep saying you found is going to help us?"

"Hn. I'm sure. He'll be here. He promised..."

Naruto scowled that his friends still wouldn't tell him who it was, causing Hinata to giggle again. She just couldn't help it.

Just then, a swirl of leaves appeared in the center of the open field in the training ground. In the swirl of the leaves appeared a Shinobi who wore the standard attire for an Anbu, minus the mask. He had raven black hair and onyx eyes, with deep lines on either side of his nose. His hair was back in a pony tail and he had a kunai in his left hand.

"Itachi-nii? You're the one Sasuke got to help us with our training?" Naruto ran up to Itachi and nearly tackled the Anbu in his excitement. Itachi had become somewhat of an older brother figure to both Naruto and Hinata over the years that the Uchiha had been visiting the two.

"Naruto-kun, you really should stop doing that," Itachi said half-heartedly. He honestly didn't mind Naruto doing that, as it reminded him of the way Sasuke was when he was younger.

"Nii-san," Sasuke said. "You're here!"

"Of course Sasuke, I told you I would help when I could."

"Yeah, I know... but you tell me that a lot, and you don't always get the chance to with all the missions you take."

Itachi waved Sasuke over and when he had run up to Itachi he stopped dead in his tracks as Itachi poked him on the forehead with two fingers saying, "Sorry Sasuke, I can't help often. My missions are just too important for me to turn down. As an Anbu I have too many high profile missions to take care of."

Sasuke flinched back as the two fingers flicked his forehead like Itachi often did in the past. He hadn't done that in a little while now and Sasuke had hoped that Itachi had dropped the habit. Guess not. Hinata then greeted Itachi next and the trio then began their training with him. He was helping them with their shuriken and kunai throwing techniques today, something he had been promising to help Sasuke with for a long time.

The training went on for a few hours. When they were done for the day and went their own ways, The two Uchiha went to their clan compound at the edge of the village while the two Hyuuga made their way to their own home.

One Month Later

The specialized classes start today. The students had all thought about what they were going to specialize in. For some of them it was obvious. Shino was going to focus on Ninjutsu, specifically his clan jutsu. Choji was going to focus on Taijutsu, being from the Akimichi clan. Hinata was going into Taijutsu specialization as well, for obvious reasons. She also figured it would help her in the continued development of her own Gentle Fist technique, though she also would spend a little bit of her time with the Ninjutsu instructor as well, using her massive chakra reserve. Kiba was going into Taijutsu as well, focusing more on the Inuzuka clan techniques. Shikamaru was going into the Ninjutsu specialization along with Sasuke and Ino. Sakura was going into Genjutsu, having the greatest chakra control.

Naruto, however, couldn't decide what he wanted to specialize in as he felt he could be good in many of the subjects. Having his great and massive amount of chakra he could excel in Ninjutsu. Being trained by the Hyuuga, he could excel in Taijutsu as well. He even figured that he could probably do well in Kenjutsu as well if he had a mind to.

But no, none of these areas truly called to him. He still had some time to choose, and he wanted to see what other subjects the academy would find instructors for. Hopefully one of them would really catch his interest.

The classes would last for the next three years until graduation. He had plenty of time. Though that didn't help to settle his unease.

Two Months Later

It's now been three months since the second year started and Naruto's awaited day had finally arrived. Today was the day they would learn of the history of the Uzumaki clan. Sure, Naruto could have tried to look up the info before now, but he would not have even known where to begin, let alone if the information would be accurate. This way, at least he knows it will have a certain level of accuracy to it.

Iruka began his lecture. "Next, class, we have the Uzumaki Clan that has been brought to near extinction. There are rumors of survivors being scattered across the world, but none of these can be confirmed. The only confirmed survivor is right here in this room. Naruto, this is what's known about the history of your clan.

The Uzumaki clan is a cousin clan of the Senju, along with the Hyuuga and the Uchiha. It, along with the other three, are said to be the four clans to originate from the Sage of the Six Paths himself. This has neither been confirmed nor denied, however the four clan's relation to one another has been validated.

Now, the Uzumaki clan is known throughout the world for three things. First, they are known as a clan of longevity. On average, an Uzumaki will live to be around 120 years old if they are not killed in the line of duty. There are reports of some Uzumaki who have lived to be nearly 150. Our very own Shodaime Hokage married one Mito Uzumaki who was confirmed to have lived to be 143 years old before her death nearly 20 years ago.

Second, the Uzumaki are known for their massive chakra reserves. An adult jonin Uzumaki have chakra reserves rivaling that of the Bijuu themselves. Mito Uzumaki had nearly double that of what Naruto or Hinata here have at this moment. There have been other Uzumaki, but none had quite as much as Mito.

Third, the Uzumaki were renowned seal masters. In fact, nearly half the seals in existence and in use around the Elemental Nations were created by the Uzumaki. Even our very own Yondaime learned Fuinjutsu from an Uzumaki. Her name was Kushina Uzumaki and she was one of the best seal masters this village has ever seen."

Iruka looks at Naruto, knowing that this next part was his to decide weather or not to reveal. Naruto saw this and with only the briefest of pauses gave Iruka a nod of confirmation that he may reveal Naruto's secret. It's not like it mattered to Naruto at this point anymore weather it was kept secret or not. Now that they were learning of the Uzumaki, the truth would come out eventually anyways.

"Eventually," continued Iruka. "Our Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze married Kushina Uzumaki. This made Yondaime-sama the second Hokage to take an Uzumaki as a wife. They later anounced to the village that Kushina was pregnant. It has been thought to most of the world that they died along with their unborn child. However, there are some who know the truth. Their child was in fact born before Yondaime-sama and Kushina-sama were killed during the Kyuubi attack. This child is both heir to the Uzumaki Clan and heir to the Namikaze Clan as the last living member of both clans. At least as far as we know."

Iruka paused for effect as the students looked at the only Uzumaki they know. Iruka then continued. "Naruto, when you turn 16 or make chuunin rank, whichever comes first, you will inherit the estates and wealth of both clans, as well as be named the head of both the Uzumaki and Namikaze Clans."

Naruto just nodded, knowing this much already. Iruka took this as a sign to continue before the class could start to make an uproar at learning this.

"Now, the reason behind the near extinction of the Uzumaki is actually a sad tale. The Uzumaki eventually became to be feared by the other four Great Nations. An alliance was formed between Kiri, Kumo and Iwa and a force of nearly 40,000 Shinobi attempted to assault the island of Uzu no Kuni, or the Land of Whirlpools. The whirlpools around the island destroyed nearly 10,000 of the combined forces before they forced their way onto the island. By this point, Uzushio, or the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools, had enough time to activate a massive sealing array that spanned the entire island.

Not much is known after this point. We know that only 450 Shinobi of the combined forces survived the assault. It's been reported that Uzushio was razed to the ground and these few survivors were so disturbed and distraught by what they had witnessed of the defence that they lost the will to continue as a Shinobi. Over the years, these survivors have disapeared into the lives of civilians. Not much else is known about the assault or the survivors.

The only reason that the Uzumaki survive today is because the Uzukage, leader of Uzushio, sent his only daughter to Konoha as a sign of continued good faith between the villages. Naruto, your grandfather on your mother's side was the Uzukage. His brother, your great uncle, was the Feudal Lord of Uzu no Kuni. Thus, you are also heir to Uzu no Kuni, alongside your clans. Besides the Hyuuga being near royalty, you are the only true royalty in Konoha." Naruto was shocked at this revelation. Iruka continued, "However, don't let that go to your head. Uzu no Kuni has been abandoned for many years. After the fall of Uzushio, the royal line of the Feudal Lord was wiped out as well. For all intents and purposes, there is no Uzushio or Uzu no Kuni anymore. Hi no Kuni, or the Land of Fire, has taken over the island as part of our nation as per the treaty of alliance that was set down before the founding of Konoha. Anything beyond that, I'm afraid I don't know the answers to." Iruka added this last part because he could see that Naruto had many questions. "The only three who could give you answers at this point are Sandaime-sama, Jiraya-sama of the Sannin, and the Feudal Lord of Hi no Kuni."

The whole class was left speechless by this point. Everyone had been excited to learn about the supposed Uzumaki Clan that their classmate was apparently from, but this was well beyond what anyone had been expecting. Iruka then dismissed class for the day, knowing they would get nothing else done that day since this bombshell had been dropped on them all. As all the students filed out of the room muttering about what they had learned, Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke had stayed in their seats going over what they had learned over and over again.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of sitting in silence, Hinata spoke up. "Naruto-kun, are you okay?"

". . ."

Sasuke tried next. "Naruto, say something."

". . ."

"Naruto-kun," Hinata tried again. "Naruto-kun please, you're worrying me."

Finally Naruto came to. "I'm sorry Hinata-chan, Sasuke, this was more than what I was expecting. I knew I would get answers, but I didn't think I'd have more questions after the class than I did before..." Naruto trailed off, not finishing the sentence as they all knew how it ended. He had more questions about his clan's history than when he had first walked through the door.

Hinata hugged Naruto gently. "Naruto-kun, we'll figure it out. Have faith."

"Thank you, Hinata-chan. I know we will. It's just... wow... my mom was a princess? And I'm apparently heir to Uzu no Kuni? It's just too unreal..."

"Well Naruto," Sasuke said. "Looks like there's more to you than any of us had at first thought. I'll ask my dad if he knows anything. As Uchiha Clan Head and Chief of the Konoha Police Force, he must know something."

"No, it's okay Sasuke. I think I'd rather look into this myself."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded. He could accept that. If he had found out something like this about himself, he would want to figure it out by himself as well. At least at first. "Okay, for now I'll leave it alone. But if you don't find answers, I'll ask. You're not the only one curious about your past."

Hinata nodded. "Hai, Naruto-kun. I think it would benefit all three of us to know of your personal history and lineage. It could help on missions in the future after we graduate."

Naruto just nodded, still dumbfounded by today's revelations. "Well.. This is going to cause an uproar in the village..." Naruto was suddenly looking forward to the isolation of the Hyuuga Compound. He did not feel like putting up with the public right now. Before he left the classroom, he **Henge'd** into an unassuming form with no resemblance to himself to walk to the compound inconspicuously. Hinata did the same. Sasuke left as he was and headed in the opposite direction towards his own clan's compound.

 **A/N:So what did you think? Let me know in the reviews. And don't forget, I would like your opinion of if you want the massacre to happen or not. I have plans for the story that can go in either direction, so in the long run it won't change TOO much. Though some will obviously change. Hope you enjoyed. Ja Ne.**


	8. The Academy Days: Year Three and Four

**A/N: Here's another chapter for you. Hope you enjoy. Got a few things in this chapter that are necessary for the story. Trying not to prolong the filler chapters of the academy days too much. I'm excited to start writing the Genin days. As such, I'm going to combine years three and four into this chapter as each year only has one event worth writing at the moment.**

 **A/N: As always, I do not own Naruto. Just my original plot ideas and possible future OC's. Naruto belongs solely to Kishimoto-Sensei.**

 **Chapter 8: The Academy Days: Year Three and Four**

Two months before the start of the third year a tragic event occurred. As Sasuke returned home one night to a nearly dead silent clan compound a feeling of unease rose in the pit of his stomach. Running as quickly as he could to his house he found it dark and empty after checking every room. He rushed out of the house and went to a 'secret' meeting spot below the Uchiha shrine. Not that it was a well kept secret in the clan.

When he got down there he found many clan members laying about in pools of their own blood. They had gruesome cuts and amputated limbs. Bile rose in young Sasuke's throat as he hurled on the spot at the sight and smell. Movement in the corner of the room caught his attention and he focused on the shadows. Out from the shadows stepped the last person he would have guessed.

"Itachi, what happened? Who killed all these people?" Sasuke shouted to his brother. Looking around the room again, he saw a body he really wasn't ready to see. His father lay in the largest pool of blood out of everyone. Sasuke rushed forward and started looking around, happy somewhere in the back of his mind that he couldn't find his mother here. "Itachi-nii?"

"Sasuke, do not follow in our clan's footsteps. It will lead to your destruction." He walked over to Sasuke, activating his Mangekyou Sharingan. When Sasuke looked up and made eye contact he was caught in Itachi's jutsu. "This is the world of Tsukuyomi. In here I have complete control over everything. For the next 72 hours you will witness the folly and downfall of our clan."

And so for three days Sasuke witnessed all of the meetings, all of the plotting. He witnessed the few who stood against the clan being silenced in some way. He witnessed the predicament of Itachi choosing the village over the clan. Sasuke witnessed the massacre of every clan member who supported the plot to over throw Konoha. His only comfort was that his mother was one of the few survivors who were not killed. She was apparently against the conspiracy the whole time.

When the jutsu was finally done, Sasuke passed out from the mental stress of living three days in the matter of three seconds. Itachi nodded to a shadow in the corner as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Out of the shadows stepped Mikoto with a solemn look on her face.

"I'm sorry, son. I'm so sorry this had to happen. I'll never forget what you did to maintain the honor of your family." Mikoto knew she would likely never see her first born again. And so with a tear rolling down her face she picked up her youngest and took him to the hospital.

Two Months Later

Sasuke has become withdrawn from the world for the last few months as he tried to cope with what he had seen and learned. His mother had told him that Itachi had decided to save the village by becoming a traitor and that no-one must ever know. Not even his best friends. This weighed heavily on his mind as the three friends had never kept a secret from one another. In the end, he had agreed, if only to honor his brother's wishes. Still, Sasuke grew bitter towards his clan's actions. His only consolation being that the ones who had wrongfully acted had all payed with their lives. As clan heir, he vowed to make sure his clan not only recovered, but prospered in a way that was more beneficial not only to the clan, but to Konoha itself as well.

He met up with his friends on the way to the academy for their first day of class for this year, still somewhat withdrawn from everyone else. But he couldn't bring himself to ignore his best friends. They had been working on cheering him up ever since they learned what happened.

"Good Morning, Sasuke-kun," Hinata greeted with a warm smile.

Naruto just nodded in greeting to the raven-haired boy as he was lost in thought.

"Morning." Sasuke greeted the two.

Not really knowing what to say to the two boys, Hinata just walked along side them in silence as they made their way to class. It was another boring review day as Iruka-sensei went over the highlights of last year. He informed the class that this year would mostly be dedicated to survival training, physical conditioning and kunai/shuriken accuracy.

Naruto, tuning out the class, was deep in thought all day long trying to find a way to learn more about his clans history. He'd been thinking on this ever since the Uchiha massacre. Reason being, his best friend almost lost his whole clan. He figured there may be something in his own clan's history that could potentially help prevent other clans from going through the same. Naruto was very worried something could happen to his adopted family at this point. Luckily this would not come to pass, not that he knew that.

Near the end of class, Iruka made one announcement that perked him up a bit. "Every Friday will be spent as a free class in which students may work on any subjects previously covered in class where you feel you need the most work. I will help you each as much as I can. Class is dismissed for the day."

With that, the class left. Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata all met up outside the building as they waited for Ko. Sasuke was going to be coming over to the Hyuuga compound today to train with the step-siblings. That night's training was their most intense yet. They all agreed that in the fairness of training, they none of them would use doujutsu.

It was a three way battle with Hiashi himself acting as mediator. Naruto vs. Sasuke vs. Hinata in a free-for-all style battle. At the end, Sasuke finally managed to win one of their three-way matches without his Sharingan. He'd been practicing with his mom, who was quite an accomplished kunoichi in her day.

"Good job, Sasuke," Hiashi congratulated him. "Naruto, Hinata, do you know what you did wrong in this match?"

"Hai, Tou-san. I didn't maintain my footing when Sasuke countered a palm strike with a sweep. I lost my footing and was thrown from the ring." Hinata knew exactly how she lost.

"Hai, Hiashi-tousan. I lost focus when Hinata was thrown. I took my eyes off of my opponent and didn't see Sasuke come around to my other side." Naruto said.

Hiashi nodded, at least they knew where they went wrong. That means they will learn from their mistakes. In this world of shinobi, you cannot lose focus. If you do, it will either cost your life, or the life of someone close to you.

The next weekend Naruto helped Hinata continue working on her new style of Jyuuken, which she finally has a name for. She's calling it Jyuho, or Gentle Step. It focuses on quick and flexible movement, high mobility, and her overall graceful movement. It was far from complete, but it was coming along great. Especially with Naruto constantly sparring with her to help her refine it. He didn't use Jyuuken against it, but instead used the academy style in order to make it a fair fight, and so they could both improve. Naruto's Jyuuken was nearly much better than Hinata's. Something about it just worked with him.

Another year or so and Hinata's Jyuho would be done. Or so Naruto thought. Little did he know that hinata would not be satisfied until her Jyuho was good enough for her to go toe to toe with Neji's Jyuuken. Naruto couldn't go against Neji on equal footing.

And so the next two years at the academy passed by mostly uneventful. Minor things here and there. Occasionally the other clan heirs would come to the compound to hang out with their friends, or Naruto and Hinata would visit their clan compounds. Always with Ko as an escort, naturally.

Neji was around a lot less now, as he had graduated a year before Hinata and Naruto would. He was placed on team 9. Also known as team Gai. The only other thing that happened of excitement before graduation was Naruto coming across an interesting book that expained more about his clan. Mostly about his clan's Fuinjutsu. As a result, Naruto expressed interest and started learning the noble art of sealing.

In only a year of practice and training in the art, on top of all the other training he was already doing, he managed to ascend to intermediate sealing formula. He could make anything from storage scrolls to grade 3 explosive tags to chakra suppression seals to even gravity seals. Unfortunately he found out the hard way that gravity seals couldn't be used for training purposes. The human body just wasn't meant to take the additional gravity or something like that. Apparently added gravity isn't like added weight, which the body can adjust to. Instead the added gravity will slowly wear away at the muscle tissue and bone density until your bones break in your own body and rupture your muscles and organs.

The seals did however make excellent traps with potentially lethal results. And so he practiced and improved his skills in the arts. He would always seal the more deadly ones in a storage scroll with a blood seal. Only he or someone closely related to him could open these. But that brought a whole lot more questions that he didn't want to take the time to figure out.

And so the graduation tests came and went with Sasuke and Naruto tying for rookie of the year, and Hinata getting kunoichi of the year with Sakura in a very close second. Two days later they all returned to class to get their team assignments.

Iruka stood in front of the class and spoke, with Pride clearly evident in his voice as his first homeroom class graduated. He knew they would go far. "Okay everyone, here we are. It's the end of the year and you have all made me so proud. I've watched you all learn and grow into great potential Genin. I expect you all to do well. But remember, the ninja world is not an easy place to live and there is always more to learn. You've already made me proud and I know you will all go far. With that being said, the team assignments are as follows:"

And so he read them all off. **(A/N: I'm going to skip the civilian teams.)**

"Team seven will be Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga. You will be a doujutsu specialist team under the supervision of Kakashi Hatake.

Team eight will be Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Sakura Haruno. You will be a tracking and capture specialist team under Kurenai Yuhi.

Team nine is still in rotation, so team ten will be the traditional Ino-Shika-Cho team under the supervision of Asuma Sarutobi. Everyone please remain here until your Jonin sensei arrive."

And so they waited. And waited. And waited, as the other teams filed out with their sensei. Three hours after the last team left, their sensei finally arrived. He's lucky none of his students are vindictive pranksters or he may have ended up on the receiving end of pranks over the next few months. Assuming they pass, of course.

But arrive he did. Finally. He peaked into the room and said, "Follow me team seven." And he immediately left before anyone had a chance to say anything. The team arrived on the roof and Kakashi took a seat, motioning the new graduates to do the same.

"First off," Kakashi said, "I think we should introduce ourselves. My Name is Kakashi Hatake. As for my likes, well I like a lot of things. There aren't really many things I dislike. And as for dreams for the future, I guess I don't really know."

 _'Wow... that was really informative...'_ They all thought at once with a very comical sweat-drop on each of their foreheads. "Your turn. Who wants to go first?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto went first. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like training and learning new jutsu and seals. I also like all my friends and adopted family. My favorite food is ramen, though I don't eat it often. **(What? I couldn't change that one!)** I dislike bullies and people who judge someone they don't know. I have two dreams for the future. The first is to restore the Uzumaki clan here in Konoha. The second is the be the greatest Hokage the village has ever seen, surpassing both Hokage-jiji and my birth father the Yondaime!"

 _'He's just like his parents. Minato-sensei, you would be proud of your son already.'_ Kakashi thought.

Hinata went next. "My name is Hinata Hyuuga. I like training with my friends and spending time with my family. My favorite food is cinnamon buns. I dislike my clan politics and the Caged Bird Seal. My dream is to abolish the practice of the seal in my clan and heal the rift between the main and branch family."

 _'That's ambitions, and dangerous.'_ Kakashi thought.

Sasuke went last. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't have many likes besides my two friends and my family. I dislike a lot of things and I don't have a dream for the future. I have a goal that will be reality. I will reform my clan, restoring it to it's former glory for the betterment of both the clan and the village."

 _Honestly, that's a great goal for him. I was worried he'd be caught up on revenge. He's more mature than I thought he would be.'_ Kakashi thought. "Well then, tomorrow morning we will meet at training ground three at eight A.M. For a training excersize to determine if I will teach you or not. If you don't pass I will send you back to the academy, no questions asked. You should know, I've never passed a team before." _'Though with this team, I honestly have no choice. Not that they need to know that. Let's just see how things go.'_

And before the three new graduates had time to question him, Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves. He left behind three very confused young Genin. And so the three friends left. Sasuke went home to tell his mother who his team mates were while Naruto and Hinata went to tell the same thing to Hiashi.

 **A/N: I know this is my shortest chapter yet, but I couldn't really help it. There was nothing else I had planned to put into the last two years of the academy and the first chapter as a Genin will more than make up for it. I hope you enjoy. Until next time. Ja ne.**


	9. Bells, Traps and a Surprised Jonin

**A/N: Well, here you go. The official start of the story. Technically. Probably start the Wave Arc next chapter or the chapter after that if things go as planned. Had to rewrite this chapter a few times to get it to flow right. Dunno if I did very well with the fight scene. It's my first _true_ combat scene. I don't count the spar in the earlier chapter. I've posted the story on Wattpad as well, for those of you who prefer that site.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Only Kishimoto-sensei can claim that right at this moment. But who knows what the future may hold.**

Chapter 9: Bells, Traps and a Surprised Jonin.

The newly graduated genin were at the training ground at 8 O'clock sharp, just as their jonin sensei told them to be. What he didn't tell them was that he was going to be three hours late. On purpose. Not that they would know it was on purpose just yet.

Deciding to not let any time go to waste they started to practice their various techniques and warm up for whatever Kakashi had planned for them. Hinata was practicing the katas she had come up with for her **Juho** (Gentle Step), Naruto was making some basic storage seals he learned during his final year at the academy, and Sasuke was practicing his hand signs to increase his speed when enacting jutsu.

Finaly, at 11 O'clock, Kakashi finally showed up. "Yo," he said. The boys just glared at him while Hinata finished her kata. Kakashi pulled out two bells and a timer. "This timer is set for noon. You have until then to get a bell. Fail to get one and I will tie you up while you watch me eat. After lunch you will have a second chance to get a bell. Fail that, and you get sent back to the academy. Any questions? No? Good. Come at me with the intent to kill or you will fail." Kakashi pulled out his signature orange book as the three genin just stared at him, then at each other, then at him. "Begin," Kakashi said.

On the command to begin all three genin jumped back and sprinted off into the woods. Kakashi was using his heightened senses to track their whereabouts while they hid. _Interesting, they didn't complain about the lack of a third bell, nor did they turn against one another. They may actually pass._

In the forest surrounding Kakashi, the three friends started to analyze everything. "Ano, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san, did you notice Kakashi-sensei only had two bells?" Hinata asked.

"Hai," Sasuke said. "But, he's a jonin. I don't think we would be able to get a bell from him even if we all attacked him together. There must be something we aren't seeing."

"Hmm... Maybe he isn't testing weather we can get a bell or not. Maybe it's just him testing our skills?" Naruto said.

"That's possible." Sasuke admitted. "But I can't help but feel there is something more to it. Naruto, do you think you can distract him long enough for me to analyze his tactics? Maybe find a way to distract him long enough for us to get the bells? We can worry about what's up with this test after that."

"Hai, hai. I'll go be a punching bag..." Naruto said. Hinata just giggled at his antics.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata began. "That's not a very nice way to see yourself," she said jokingly.

"Hai, hai." Naruto said as he waved his hand over his shoulder as he walked away from them and towards Kakashi in the clearing.

Naruto walked out of the forest and into the clearing with a look of concentration. He knew he didn't stand a chance if Kakashi-sensei took him seriously. Luckily for him, the jonin in question looked bored and was obviously underestimating him. Naruto walked up to him until he stood fifteen feet away from Kakashi.

"You know," Kakashi said in a monotone voice. "Shinobi tactics usually call for stealth. I've glanced at your file, I know you are capable of implementing at least chuunin level stealth tactics. So, why aren't you?"

Naruto just shrugged and took up the gentle fist stance. Kakashi raised his eyebrows as he looked away from his book at really looked at Naruto for the first time. Kakashi hadn't really paid his team much mind yesterday during introductions since he didn't expect them to pass. What he saw took him by surprise. He knew of Naruto's parentage. So when he saw Naruto's unique eyes that resembled and differed from the Byakugan at the same time, he didn't know what to think.

"Shinobi tactics 101: Taijutsu," Kakashi said as he turned his attention back to his book. Or so it looked like. He was actually using his senses and peripheral vision to track Naruto's every move, somewhat cautious of how much of the gentle fist Naruto might know.

" **Byakugan** ," Naruto said as he rushed in at Kakashi with a Jyuken strike aimed right for Kakashi's abdomen. Strike after strike he aimed at his sensei, always cautious, never over extending. His moves were very precise.

 _'Hm, it seems he is only trying to gauge me. Is he working with the others? They're just watching from the edge of the woods,'_ Kakashi thought. Naruto made one mistake with his strikes and that was all the opening Kakashi needed. He used mid-chuunin level speed and ducked the attack, ending up behind the young Genin. A twinkle in his eye gave away the mischief he had planned. Naruto, tracking him the whole time with the Byakugan, got ready to avoid whatever Kakashi had planned.

" **Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi** , (Leaf Village Hidden Taijutsu Art: A Thousand Years of Death)" Kakashi launched his attach with his hand in the tiger sign. Right as he was about to strike Naruto right where the sun doesn't shine Naruto used the **Kawarimi no Jutsu** (Substitution Jutsu) and substituted himself with a log. When Kakashi's hand came in contact with the log it splintered into countless pieces.

All three genin sweat-dropped at this. _'Overly dramatic much?'_ Was the thought on all their minds. Supplemented by Naruto's immediate reaction of _'I can NOT get hit with that...'_

Kakashi immeditely turned to where Naruto had substituted to. "I'm impressed. A non Hyuuga knowing the gentle fist to the degree you do and being as good as you are with the Byakugan. Your eye's aren't transplanted are they?"

"No, Sensei. It was a Hyuuga ritual jutsu. That's all I can say without you talking to Hiashi-tousan." Naruto informed him.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow, an action he got the feeling he would be doing a lot. _'He calls the clan head Hiashi-_ tousan _and doesn't get in trouble? He must be on exceptionally good terms with the stern man.'_

Sasuke and Hinata were watching the whole thing take place with their respective doujutsu active. With both a Sharingan and a Byakugan analyzing Kakashi's movements, Sasuke was sure they could come up with _something_ , right?

"Hinata," Sasuke said. "I have an idea. Can you sneak around to position yourself in the woods behind Kakashi-sensei?" She nodded, so he continued. "Good, I'll launch a fireball when there is a big enough of an opening to pull it off without Naruto getting in the middle of it. When Kakashi jumps back to dodge it can you try to disable him with the gentle fist?" Again she nodded and they set off to position themselves to attempt Sasuke's hastily assembled plan.

Naruto saw them positioning themselves for something with his Byakugan, so he picked up his efforts against Kakashi and launched a flurry of Jyuken strikes meant to disable any body part that blocks them. This 'forced' Kakashi to dodge instead of block them. He could've blocked and been alright, he was skilled enough. But he wanted to see what his genin were up to.

 _'I hope Naruto is paying attention with that Byakugan of his,'_ Sasuke thought as he went through the hand signs for the **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** (Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu). Horse – Tiger – Serpent – Ram – Monkey – Boar – Horse – Tiger. Holding the last hand sign, Sasuke let loose a fireball from Kakashi's blind side in hopes of catching him off guard at least a little. Kakashi, however, sensed the build up of chakra and felt the heat of the fireball fly towards him as he and Naruto both jumped backwards to avoid the small inferno before them.

Naruto, seeing what both Sasuke and Hinata were doing, rushed forward right as the flames disipated. Hinata rushed in behind Kakashi and reached him at the same time as Naruto as they both called out " **Hakke Sanjūni Shō** (Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms). Naruto and Hinata began striking in synchronization.

"Two Palms"

"Four Palms"

"Eight Palms"

"Sixteen Palms"

That was as far as they got before Hinata stumbled her footing, uncomfortable with the rigid stance of the maneuver they were attempting. Hoping to salvage the attack, she backed out so Naruto could strike the next set without being thrown off tempo by her own strikes.

Naruto blurred through the last set of strikes, shouting out "Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"

When his sequence was done, 'Kakashi' was thrown backwards and exploded in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, a log was in his place.

 _'A kawarimi, damn'_ Naruto thought. Naruto began looking around to try and figure out where Kakashi disapeared to when he heard his soon-to-be sensei call out "Shinobi Tactics 102: Genjutsu."

Kakashi went through the hand signs for the classic Hell's Viewing genjutsu. Unfortunately for Kakashi, none of his studemts fell for it as they each had a doujutsu that allowed them to see it for what it was. Sasuke used his sharingan to copy the genjutsu to save for a later date.

 _'Hmm... I_ _expected that to get at least one of them,'_ Kakashi thought.

Kakashi quickly transitioned from genius to ninjutsu, as genjutsu obviously wouldn't work unless he pulled out the higher rank ones. The only problem with that was that he wasn't comfortable doing that to frest genin.

"Shinobi Tactics 103: Ninjutsu," Kakashi announced. He turned to where Naruto was glaring at him. " **Futon: Daitoppa** (Wind Style:Great Breakthrough)." Kakashi launches a small wall of air at Naruto, knocking him into a tree and knocking him out momentarily.

"Naruto!" SasIle and Hinata shouted simultaneously, taking their eyes off of the one-eyed jonin. When they turned back to where he was, he was gone.

"Where is he?" Sasuke asked Hinata.

She looked around with her Byakugan. Left, right, behind, above. Nothing. That just leaves... She turned her eyes to the ground a moment too late as Kakashi's hands burst forth and grabbed her ankles, pulling her down into the ground up to her neck.

" **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu** (Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu)" he announced. Hinata tried to struggle, but try as she might, she couldn't get loose.

Kakashi turned to Sasuke as a fireball headed his way. He countered it with a water jutsu. " **Suiton: Mizurappa** (Water Style: Violent Water Wave)."

Sasuke was thrown back. As he tried to get up, Kakashi held him down on the ground. "Exorcise complete," Kakashi said. "Go wake Naruto up," Kakashi told Sasuke as he went to free Hinata from the earth.

A few minutes later Naruto was awake, Hinata was free, and all three were sulking, believing they had failed.

"Well, I never thought I would say this, but congratulations! You pass." Kakashi gave them his infamous eye smile as the fresh genie tried to understand.

"Ano, what do you mean Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked. "We didn't get a bell..."

"That doesn't matter, that wasn't the true objective. There was a hidden goal and you three were able to figure it out, even if you don't realize it." Kakashi went on, "Those who don't follow the rules are trash. But, those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. You three worked together despite there only being two bells. That shows me you there can and will work together in the field. And what's more, you trust each other completely. That is the most important part of being a Konoha Shinobi, Teamwork."

The three friends' faces lit up in realization as they smiled at each other. Or in Sasuke's case, smirked.

"Knew it," was all Sasuke said.

"Now go home you three. Celebrate. Go out to a restaurant and eat together or something as a team bonding experience. Not that you need it from what I've seen. I need to go report to the Hokage. Meet me at the entrance to training ground three tomorrow morning at 7 in the morning for out first team training so I can better gauge what you can and cannot do. From there I will put together a training schedule."

The three friends stood in unison with a, "Hai, sensei." The turned and walked back towards the market district of Konoha to go to the only restaurant they can all agree on, Yakiniku , leaving a slightly bewildered Kakashi standing by himself wondering what the future holds for his first genin team.

Kakashi made his way to the hero monument for all the KIA Shinobi of the village. _'Sensei, Obito, Rin... Are you watching, from wherever you are. I have a team of my own now. They kinda remind me of all of you. Especially you sensei. I'll train your son into a fine Shinobi, I promise. Then maybe... maybe you can forgive me for failing you all.'_

After about an hour, Kakashi headed for the Jonin meeting room in the Hokage tower. He was late, but not as late as usual, so when he entered in the room, everyone there was surprised that they only waited a third of the amount of time they normally do. Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at Kakashi's 'early' arrival.

"Glad you could join us, Kakashi." Hiruzen said.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied.

"Okay, lets get started then. First, the standard teams. Mikoto Uchiha," Hiruzen looked at the Uchiha matron. "How did team one?" **(Remember, some of them were spared.)**

Mikoto stepped forward, "Failed Hokage-sama. I recommend dropping them from the Shinobi program." She stepped back and Hiruzen turned to the next Jonin.

"Hayate Gekko, your team?" he asked.

"Failed Hokage-sama. I recommend another year in the academy. They show potential," Hayate said.

"Genma Shiranui?" Hiruzen asked.

"Team three managed to pass, Hokage-sama. Though just barely. I'd like to work with them for a few months before taking our first mission." Genma stated.

Hiruzen nodded, "Permission granted. Aoba Yamashiro, how did team four do?"

"Failed as well Hokage-sama. Horribly. They spent more time fighting each other than they did taking my test. I recommend dropping them from the program." Aoba sighed, "Otherwise, they'll end up either dead, or causing their teammates' deaths."

Hiruzen nodded with a grim expression. "Muta Aburame, team five?"

"Passed," he said simply.

"Ensui Nara, team six?"

"Failed, Hokage-sama. Another year in the academy and they will be fine though," he said, yawning after.

"Very well, now the specialist teams. Kakashi Hatake, how did team seven, the doujutsu specialist team, do in their test?" Hiruzen asked. He, of course, already knew. The old Hokage had watched the whole thing in his crystal ball. The other jonin were feeling bad for the team, knowing that Kakashi had most likely failed a good team because his tests were the second most harsh in the leaf village. The only one worse than him was the sadist Anko Mitarashi. Her test involves training ground 44. The room shuddered at the thought.

"Passed, Hokage-sama." This caused the whole room to do a double take, except the esteemed Hokage of course.

"Oh," Hiruzen asked, "How did they do?"

Kakashi took on a serious tone of voice that screamed authority to most of the jonin in the room. You only saw the serious side of Kakashi when it was truly important. "Hokage-sama, they knew something was amiss immediately after the test began. Throughout the whole test, they never once turned on one another, working together to try and take me down in various ingenious ways. Did you know that the Hyuuga gave sensei's son the Byakugan?"

The jonin in the room whispered their disbelief to one another as Kakashi got a nod from Hiruzen. Kakashi continued, "He and the Hyuuga heiress both utilized their Byakugan from the start, tracking my movements and working nearly flawlessly with both one another, and their teammate, Sasuke Uchiha. With the use of Sasuke's sharingan, which I didn't know he activated by the way, they were able to attempt a distraction and entrapment maneuver in which I was hit on both sides by the **Hakke Sanjūni Shō**. This was after Sasuke 'distracted' me with a fireball."

The jonin in the room were pleasantly surprised that a team of fresh genin did so well against him. Hiruzen interupted him. "Hold, Kakashi. I brought my crystal ball with me. I watched your test and recorded it in the ball. I'll replay it for everyone here so that they can get a grasp on your team, you're leaving a lot out."

And so the jonin gathered around their Hokage as they watched team seven's bell test. Needless to say, they were speechless. The team worked so well together you would think they were fresh chuunin at the least.

"Now then, let's get back to the task at hand. Kurenai Yuhi, how did team eight, the tracking and capture team, do in their test." Hiruzen had a thoughtful look on his face.

"They passed Hokage-sama. Kiba Inuzuka was able to track me across the training ground after Sakura Haruno broke him out of the genjutsu I placed on the team. Sakura had precise chakra control and was not only able to spot the genjutsu, but able to break out of it in under a minute of being placed within it. I used one of my B-Rank Genjutsu too. She's a natural at the art of illusion. Shino Aburame was the second to break out of the Genjutsu, only about twenty seconds after Sakura. His Kikaichu were not only able to break him out of it once he identified it, but he also managed to tag me with a female insect a short while later in the test."

Hiruzen nodded. "Team nine is still in rotation as Team Guy, so Asuma Sarutobi, how did team ten do?"

Asuma took his cigarette out of his mouth reluctantly as he stated simply, "Ino-Shika-Cho passed." He didn't need to say more. The teamwork in those three clans is legendary, even in the other villages.

"Very well," Hiruzen began. "Meeting adjourned. I'll take all recommendations into consideration as I review your mission reports. I expect them all to be turned in no later than noon tomorrow." He gave Kakashi a pointed look.

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" all the jonin shouted in unison. All of the jonin left to write their mission reports for each team's test, leaving the Sandaime Hokage alone with his thoughts. _'I wonder if I should talk to Naruto about his parents' scrolls... No, I think I'll wait till he's a chuunin after all.'_


	10. First C-Rank: Journey to Uzu no Kuni

**A/N: Okay, another short chapter. I'm trying to make them longer, but the words just don't seem to be cooperating. I apologize. Anyways, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy. Got some interesting things planned for this story arc. I am opening a poll though. I need votes on weather Kurama is going to be helpful or hateful. Also, I need votes on Kurama's gender. Some people prefer a Father-/Mother-like Kyuubi, some people prefer the scheming Kyuubi. I can roll with either without changing my story. Let me know what you think I should do in either a review or a PM.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Only Kishimoto-sensei can claim that honor. Well... legally anyways.**

First C-Rank Mission: Journey to Uzu no Kuni

"Sasuke in position, over."

"Hinata in position, over."

"Naruto in position, over."

Kakashi paused for a moment. "Does everyone have eyes on the target?" He asked.

"Hai!" Was the response he got from his three genin.

"I'm my mark," Kakashi said. "3... 2... 1... MARK!"

The three genin lunged from where they were hidden. Naruto was the first to make contact. "GOT IT!" He yelled.

"Confirm target. Identifier red ribbon on ear." Kakashi said over their ear piece.

Hinata confirmed, "Target Tora captured."

"AAAAAH! GET IT OFF!" Naruto yelled as Tora clawed his face viciously. Hinata walked up to him and picked up Tora off of him. The cat immediately calmed down, much to the team's disbelief.

"... how?" They all asked. Hinata just shrugged and started petting the cat in her arms.

They walked to the mission room in silence, still unable to believe that the dreaded demon cat Tora is so passive at the moment. Team seven made it to the tower and turned in Tora, completing thier 18th D-Rank mission.

The Sandaime Hokage raised an eyebrow at Hinata. That cat doesn't like many people. "Well done on your mission," Hiruzen said. "Now before I give you another, I would like your honest opinion Kakashi. Is your team ready for a C-Rank?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. I was actually going to request one tomorrow," Kakashi replied.

"Very good. I have a mission that can only be done by your team and I don't want to wait any longer to give it to you. Come by my office tomorrow at noon. You are dismissed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" They all said in unison.

The trio left, leaving Kakashi with the Hokage in the mission office. As they walked down the street, Naruto ran in front of the other two, stopped and turned around to ask, "Hinata-chan, Sasuke, why don't we go out to eat to celebrate!? We have out first C-Rank tomorrow. Not only that, but it's a mission only we can do!"

"Ano, where do you want to go Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san?" Hinata asked.

"Yakiniku Q," Sasuke suggested.

"Ichiraku would be my vote, but I know you both would say no since I try to go there as much as I can," Naruto said sullenly.

"Tell you what, if you don't screw anything up on our mission, I'll treat you to ramen," Sasuke promised. As soon as the words left his mouth he felt a deathly chill crawl up his spine. His wallet might take a big hit when they return.

So the three friends went to their usual restaurant and got their usual table in the back. After ordering their food, the trio began talking about their individual training they did in their free time.

Sasuke was working on learning one of the higher rank fire jutsu his clan specializes in. His mother was teaching him, and in his words she was a 'harsh' teacher. The complete opposite of her everyday personality.

Hinata was almost there with her own Taijutsu style, Juho, the Gentle Step. She was working out the kinks. Two and a half years of hard work and it was finally about to be combat ready. She even started working on an original technique to go along with it. Though it was far from ready for field testing.

Naruto was advancing further in his fuinjutsu. His dealing prowess was second only to the Hokage already. It just came so naturally. He was a bit nervous to try developing his own seals yet. He wanted to wait until he had a safe and controlled environment and could get a deal master to check the seals before testing.

He also wanted to learn his father's signature jutsu combination. But he didn't even know where to begin on the sealing matrix for the Haraishin, nor did he know the steps to learning the Rasengan. He didn't even know who he could ask about the jutsu. _'Maybe Kakashi?'_ Naruto thought. _'He was my biological father's student after all. I may ask him during or after the mission...'_

After eating their fill, the trio left and parted ways, sort of. Sasuke headed to his clan compound while Naruto amd Hinata headed to the Hyuuga compound. They decided to get as much sleep as they could tonight. They wanted to be well rested for the coming days.

The Next Day, the trio met up in front of the Hokage's tower and waited for their sensei once again. Luckily for them, he wasn't late like he normally was. _'I guess he's not late for important missions...'_ they all thought.

"Well then, lets get in there team 7. I don't think we should keep Sandaime-sama waiting, do you?" Kakashi asked. They sweatdropped a bit at that. Normally they are the ones waiting on him after all.

They walked up the stairs in silence, each wondering what the mission that calls for their team specifically could possibly be. Naruto had an interesting feeling about the mission. Almost like something very important was going to happen while they are out there. Something that he absolutely could not miss.

Kakashi knocked on the door to the Hokage's office and after a short delay, 'Enter' was heard from the other side. The team walked in and stood in formation waiting for their leader to address them.

"Thank you for coming," Hiruzen said. "I'm sure you are all curious as to why I need this specific team for the mission, no?"

They all nodded.

"Well to be quite frank, there is only one person in the village who can do this mission. Naruto, how much have you learned about seals so far?" Hiruzen asked.

"Well, Hokage-jiji, I've made it to the fifth book in the intermediate set. Once I finish it, I'll be on the Expert set." Naruto said proudly.

Hiruzen was genuinely surprised that Naruto had managed to get that far so quickly. _'Although I guess I really shouldn't be that surprised. It is in his blood after all.'_ he thought. "Well, Naruto, the reason I ask is because this mission is to the ruins of Uzushiogakure no Sato, your ancestral home. But the whole Island is protected by a defensive grid of barriers that can only be safely bypassed if there is an Uzumaki present. It was a fail-safe enacted shortly after the fall. The whole world has been trying to find a way past the barriers but no one can get through. Our own seal master, my student Jiraiya, has figured out why. The entire barrier system is run off of blood seals. Only an Uzumaki can disable or circumvent them."

The team stared at the Hokage in shock for a few seconds before recovering. Naruto was the first to speak in an almost whisper.

"Uzushio..." was all he said.

"Naruto-kun, are you okay?" Hinata asked.

Distracted by his thoughts, Naruto didn't hear her. So when Sasuke tapped on his shoulder, Naruto was startled into a small jump. "Oi, say something," Sasuke said.

"Huh?" was Naruto's less than intelligent response. "I'm sorry, I was lost in thought. What'd you say?"

"I asked if you are okay, Naruto-kun?" Hinata repeated.

"Hai, hai. I just didn't think I'd be going to Uzushio so soon.I figured it would be a few more years before I got the chance to visit," Naruto replied. Both of his teammates nodded in acceptance of his response.

Hiruzen looked them over before saying, "Your official mission is to bypass the barriers without triggering or deactivating them. With a blood seal that is easy, as long as the seal accepts your blood. As heir of Uzu no Kuni, as well as Uzushiogakure no Sato, your blood will undoubtedly be accepted. We don't want any of our enemies getting inside Uzushio, that's why I don't want the seals completely deactivated. Once inside you are to locate the underground archive chamber. The last person to see the chamber was the last Uzukage. All I know from Mito-sama and Kushina-chan is that the archive is located below the kage tower in the city. I don't know where in the city that is. So pack for at least a two month long mission just in case. Once you find it, seal the contents into an extra large scroll. I have an empty one slightly bigger than the forbidden scroll of sealing prepared for you. The archive is your birthright, and so it is yours if you can find it. Also, Naruto, you have an optional secondary mission. Mito-sama once spoke of a cave below the island whose entrance is in the center of the island. She said this cave was a safe-house of sorts for the royal line of Uzu no Kuni. It also has a blood seal that can only be undone by a direct heir, which you are the only living heir. In this room is said to be documents of vital information for each Daimyo of Uzu. These documents will be needed in the future for reestablishing the village if you choose to in due time. If you can, retrieve them. If not, it will have to be done later. Good luck, and be safe. Dismissed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," They all said in unison.

Kakashi spoke up next, "Meet at the gates in two hours. Pack for a two month stay outside the village. Pack for a wilderness survival." And with that, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Two hours later the team met at the gate. Before they set out, Naruto handed each member of the team a storage scroll big enough for all of their equipment and supplies. He had a massive scroll strapped to his back and closed with a blood seal that he himself made in advance for if and when they find what they are looking for.

"Well, it looks like you are all prepared. Let's go," Kakashi said. And so team seven set off to the East towards the coast.

They traveled along, jumping across the limbs of the trees, for a good portion of the day, stopping only for short breaks. When the sun started to fall they stopped in a decent sized clearing and set up camp. They set up a rotating watch and settled in. Hinata cooked them all a nice meal and after cleaning up they ended the day. Kakashi took first watch, Sasuke had second, Naruto third, then Hinata had the final watch.

The night passed peacefully with nothing out of the ordinary. The second day passed much the same way. Nothing out of the ordinary. On the third day, when they set up camp for the night, Naruto could smell the sea. They were close to the shore. They set up camp, had dinner and started their rotating shifts much the same way as they had the nights before. When Naruto's shift came around he sat in a tree keeping watch. About halfway through his shift he heard a soft whisper. Looking around for the source, he couldn't see, hear, smell or otherwise detect anything.

He couldn't quite make out what was being said. Nor could he tell what direction the whispering voice was coming from. It almost sounded like the voice was coming from the direction of the shore. And just as suddenly as the whispering had appeared, it was gone. That night, when his shift was done and he went back to sleep, he had the dream again. Neither he nor Hinata have had the shared dream in years. Not since they found out what had happened that night. The difference tonight was that his dream seemed to be from the point of view of the fox exclusively.

When he awoke from the dream/memory... thing... he could remember one key detail that wasn't present in the past. He remembered seeing a single glowing red eye before he-as the fox-began attacking the village. It was like the fox couldn't even control his own actions.

 _'What the heck is going on? Why now of all times?'_ Naruto thought. As they finished breaking down camp, Naruto walked over to Hinata and asked, "Hey, Hinata-chan... did... did you have that dream last night?"

She just nodded, not having to say anything else. "It felt different Naruto-kun. It felt like the Kyuubi wasn't in control of itself. And, I remember seeing a red eye. I think it was a Sharingan."

Naruto stiffened at that. That would mean that it was an Uchiha that was behind the attack if it really was the Sharingan. But most of the Uchiha have been wiped out, so there is no way to know for sure. "Do you think we should tell anyone?"

"Not yet, Naruto-kun. Let's wait until we have more solid information to go off of. I don't want to worry anyone unnecessarily." Hinata sighed, "I thought we were done with these dreams."

"Me too, Hinata-chan. Me too." Naruto went back to packing up and sealing the rest of his camping equipment before heading off towards the coast once again. The hours passed by in silence as the two Jinchuuriki pondered what it could all mean. Was it really an Uchiha who orchestrated the attack on the village. If so, what for?

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the coast. They could see an island in the distance. The water in between them and it was filled with whirlpools of all sizes and speeds. One thing they all had in common, even the slowest one was too fast to safely traverse. Without knowing how to get across, they were effectively stuck here.

"Kakashi-sensei, any ideas? Hokage-jiji didn't say anything about getting across actual whirlpools. He just said there were seals to go around on the island." Naruto stared out at the island. "Something feels off too. I don't know how to explain it, but something is wrong."

"No, I'm not sure. We'll set up a forward operating base here. It'll act as our base camp as we figure out how to get onto the island." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded. "Hai, Kakashi-sensei. Maybe-" Naruto trailed off, seeming to be lost in thought.

"Naruto?" Kakashi observed his student. "Is everything alright?"

"I... don't know, sensei. Like I said before, something feels off. Wrong. Don't you feel it?" Naruto asked.

"No," Kakashi admitted. "Everything feels fine to me."

"Hmm..." Naruto sighed, "maybe I'm just imagining things. I... don't know-" He trailed off again before turning back to his team and helping to set up their base camp for an undetermined amount of time.

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you think. What you liked or didn't like. I can't promise it will change anything, but there is always a chance, right? Anyways, don't forget to vote about Kurama please. Ja Ne.**


	11. The Mysterious Seal: The Path onto Uzu

**A/N: Well, here it is. Chapter 11. I hope you all are enjoying the story so far and continue to do so. I got a question from a guest that I want to clarify. Since I can't PM this reviewer I will answer it here.**

 **To Bombza: Yes, that is normally true. But remember, even in canon the Kyuubi was split in half, making the amount of chakra much more managable. Not to mention that it was the Shinigami who performed the actual sealing portion in my story. That's why a non-Uzumaki is able to handle having it done. Because it's only half, and the sealing was done by a literal god.**

 **Anyways, on with the chapter.**

A Mysterious Seal: The Path onto the Island of Death

The next day, team 7 find themselves searching the coast line for any way into the island. There seems to be no way to get across the water, not with all the whirlpools in the way. The search was fruitless. No one could find anything.

"Well," Kakashi began. "I'm at a loss for what to do here." Kakashi was in fact NOT at a loss. His sensei's wife had told him of the island defenses and sealing array. He just wanted to test his genin. "Any idea's you three?"

Sasuke and Hinata turned to Naruto, who had a thoughtful expression on his face the whole time. "I... don't know. I'm getting a... a feeling of some kind off to the north. Just up the coast."

Kakashi smiled internally. _'His Uzumaki blood is telling him where to go. Just as Kushina-sama said.'_ He then spoke up, "Well, this is your homeland by blood. I'd say lets trust your feeling. North we go."

And so the team walked a ways up the coast, taking in the different sights the whole time. "You know," Sasuke said. "I knew the sea was going to be different, but this isn't quite what I was expecting."

"I know what you mean, Sasuke-kun. It's so different from Konoha." Hinata was looking out at the horizen in wonder. _'I wonder what's out there, beyond the sea.'_

Naruto, however, was completely unaware that a conversation was even taking place around him. He was so lost in his own thoughts and feelings, you could set of a paper bomb right next to him and he wouldn't hear it. _'What was it like, I wonder. It was a hidden village in it's own right at one point in time, complete with its own Kage. It was so strong it took three hidden villages to lay siege to Uzushio.'_ So lost was he in his own thoughts, it took Kakashi shouting out his name four or five times to bring him back to the real world.

"Naruto!" Kakashi shouted again.

"Huh? Did you say something Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Hai, I was calling your name for the last few minutes. Are you okay?" Kakashi asked.

"Hai, hai. Was just lost in thought." Naruto explained. "There are so many questions I have. So many things I want to know. So much I could learn about my clan and its history here. I just need to get on the island." Naruto got progressively quieter and quieter as he spoke until his last few words were nearly a whisper. "Maybe... maybe even rebuild the clan one day. And find any other survivors..."

Team seven looked at him in concern. They looked at him with understanding, particularly Sasuke since over half the Uchiha clan was wiped out in recent years. But no-one looked at him with pity, knowing that pity was the last thing Naruto wanted right now. So the team silently vowed to themselves that no matter what they found, they would be there for Naruto.

A few minutes later they found themselves walking up to a shabby, broken down pier. Naruto stopped, causing the others to stop behind him. "The feeling I'm getting is coming from here."

"A run-down pier?" Sasuke deadpanned. "You're getting a gut feeling from a run-down fishing pier?"

Instead of answering, Naruto walked up to the pier, following his instincts. After searching the remaining boards, Naruto comes across a sealing array that's been hidden on the underside of the pier. "I found something," he shouted back to his team. "Fuinjutsu. I'll need time to study it to know what it does. Maybe a few hours?"

Kakashi smiled at his student from behind the mask, though you couldn't really tell. "Alright, while Naruto inspects the seal we will relocate camp and such. Sasuke, you break down the tents and set them up here. Hinata you pack and move our supplies. After that's done, I'll teach you both how to set up good perimeter traps."

The two genin both nodded and walked off to start on their assigned tasks. Meanwhile, Naruto was going over every stroke of the sealing array he found. As he looked over it, he began to talk to himself, vocalizing everything he was finding in the seal. This was more habit than anything, as it helps him to make sure he doesn't miss anything.

"It's a five point seal. The Uzumaki swirl is in the center marking it as a creation of the clan. It looks like it takes both chakra and blood to activate. Most likely the blood of an Uzumaki. Lets see, the first layer of the seal contains a transference seal, converting the chakra into a construct of some kind, but only if it has the appropriate blood for the activation. The next layer is a containment seal. Looks like it has something massive sealed within it. It can't be unlocked until the above layer is activated. The third layer looks like it has something to do with the whirlpools, or maybe Uzushio itself? Or the waterway in general between here and Uzu? I can't tell. Kuso... Uh... let's see. The connecting arrays line up so that each layer is activated a fraction of a second after the previous one, starting with layer one. It doesn't look like there are any trap seals preventing it from being activated, odd. . . . Wait, What's this, an energy siphoning array hidden in the first layer. Looks like if your blood isn't right for the seal, it will siphon off your chakra till you're dead. Yeesh! Hmm, another odd part, the seal has an array I don't recognize hidden in the second and third layers. It looks almost like the transference seal, but... maybe a long distance transfer? That's beyond me..."

Kakashi, who had been listening the whole time, was very impressed to say the least. As Naruto stood up on the pier to think over the seal, Kakashi asked, "You understood that much of a high level seal with that short of an examination? I'm very impressed Naruto."

"Well, I recognized the majority of it from the fuinjutsu books that I read nearly every night. The few that I can't read have enough similarities that I'm able to decifer them with little problem. The only one giving me trouble is the one hidden in the second and third layer of the seal. I can tell that it's not harmful, I just can't tell what it actually _does_ right now." Naruto explained.

Kakashi then asked Naruto the obvious question. "So what does the seal do then, from what you can tell?"

"Well, the first part of the seal takes in the blood and chakra of the user and transfers it to a storage seal in the second layer to unseal whatever is in it. It's massive from what I can tell. I'm not entirely sure what the third layer does. But..." Naruto paused, deep in thought. "Wait. It's not a long distance transfer seal at all hidden in the bottom. It's a timer. Whatever the array does, it's on a timer!" Naruto quickly goes back to the seal. "Okay, so if the array connects the second and third layer together here, then that means it's not a circuit timer. This array connects here and triggers this supplementary seal, then that causes the seal to reverse itself after about..." Naruto has a glazed over look in his eyes as he does his mental calculation. "10 minutes. Whatever this seal does, whatever is sealed in the second layer storage array, it reseals itself after 10 minutes. And the timer seal _is_ connected to a long distance transference seal after all. This seal has a sister seal on the island itself."

Kakashi just looked dumbfounded as Naruto spouted off all this information too quickly for him to follow. Kakashi doesn't have much fuinjutsu training, despite who his sensei was. His knowledge is limited to exploding notes, storage seals for basic equipment, and his summoning jutsu for his ninken. "Um, Naruto? A basic explanation please?"

Naruto chuckled at that. "Let's wait until Sasuke and Hinata-chan are here. I'm still working it out in my head. I understand how the seal works, but without knowing what is actually in the storage array, your guess is as good as mine on what will actually happen.

After a few more minutes, Hinata showed up at the new camp location and started unsealing the equipment from the storage seals Naruto had made for the team before the mission. How he makes the seals so fast, Hinata still doesn't understand. It was another 10 minutes before Sasuke came back with the tents. After setting them up, Kakashi made a camp fire for them as they all sat around it and Naruto released some food stored in one of his own scrolls. They set up a pot over the fire and added water, meat, vegetables and spices and let the stew begin cooking.

Naruto then began to explain how the seal worked. "Okay, so from what I've figured out, it's a triple-layered Uzumaki blood seal. It takes in the blood and chakra of an Uzumaki to unseal a massive item stored in the second layer. The third layer is a timer and transference seal linked to a sister seal most likely on the island itself. The only way to know for sure what it does is to activate it. I'll draw counter seals on my hand that will activate only if the array on the pier tries to harm me in any way. I would recommend you all stay at least 20 meters away during this process. I think doing this tomorrow before noon would be best, since we're running out of daylight today and I don't want to go tinkering with an Uzumaki seal in the dark. Bad things can happen."

His team nodded in agreement. Kakashi of course, despite not understanding how the seal worked, already knew what it was thanks to his sensei's wife, Naruto's mother. He knew that it was in fact a bridge. He also knew only an Uzumaki could activate it. Why didn't he share any of this information with his genin? Well, he honestly wanted to see if Naruto could figure it out. And if he couldn't, he wanted to see what kind of crazy ideas the three genin would come up with to get onto the island. He wouldn't let them get hurt of course, but it would be a little funny to listen to. After all of that, then he would tell them what he knew. Now he didn't have to. Naruto was turning into quite the little Fuinjutsu prodigy in his own right. Both of his parents were accomplished seal masters after all. And it's in his blood to be good with seals anyways. All of these thoughts were going through Kakashi's head as he looked on his team with pride.

The rest of the day was spent in conversation until the stew was done. The team ate, talked some more, then went to bed after establishing a watch rotation. Naruto would be taking first watch this time. After activating his Byakugan to watch in every direction he sat back in front of the fire and thought more on the sealing array he would be activating tomorrow. Truth be told, he was a bit nervous about activating a seal that he didn't create himself.

Next was Sasuke's turn on watch. The whole time he was keeping lookout, he was also wondering just how far his teammates would go. How strong would the three of them get together. His thoughts constantly wondered back to the events of a few years ago in which his brother stopped an uprising by wiping out half the clan and running as a 'missing-nin'. No-one knew that of course. No-one except Sasuke, the Hokage and Danzo. Sasuke was just thankful that Itachi told him the truth, despite the fact that he was ordered not to by the higher ups. If he hadn't, there's no telling how Sasuke would have turned out. _'I probably would be some dark, emo punk obsessed with power and revenge pushing away anyone and everyone that cares about me, eventually abandoning the village and running off to train with some outlaw of Konoha to gain the power to kill my only brother... Nah, I don't think I'd go that far would I?'_ So caught up in his thoughts, he almost lost track of time as he swapped out with Hinata, who had third watch.

Hinata was keeping an eye out with her Byakugan as Naruto had on his shift, the only difference, she was walking the perimeter of camp as well, to cover for her blind spot. A blind spot that Naruto somehow didn't have. _'To this day we don't know how it happened. Why doesn't he have the blind spot like the rest of us do? Is there something wrong with the Hyuuga bloodline that prevents us from gaining the complete Byakugan?'_ There were many in the clan who put forth their theories, but in the end they are just that, theories. No one had any solid facts or proof to support them. These were some of the things on Hinata's mind that night, like many nights before, when she thought about the clan. Though, to be fair, she and Naruto both had an unfair advantage over the rest of the clan regardless. As Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, they had massive chakra reserves, combine with the healing factor and stamina, it meant they could keep their Byakugan active nearly 24/7 if they wanted to. The strain on their eyes would be healed by the fox, and it would use hardly any of their chakra due to the massive reserves.

But these thoughts would be for another time, as Hinata was about to wake up Kakashi for his shift keeping watch. Kakashi spent his watch doing the same thing he always did, reading his Icha Icha book while keeping all his other senses trained on the environment. He would listen, smell and sense any disturbances or oddities in the area long before he would be able to see it anyways. The former Anbu had incredible senses after all.

The next day, as the genin were getting up and preparing for the day, Kakashi informed them of what the day would be spent doing if all went well. "Okay team, if all goes well and we get lucky on what this seal does, we may be on the island by noon. If that's the case, we will spend the first few hours scouting the coast of the island for a suitable location for camp before venturing inland for Uzushio. This Island hasn't been inhabited by man in about two decades, so the undergrowth will probably be very thick. Stick together, got it?"

 **"Hai, sensei!"** The three genin said in unison. After a small breakfast, Naruto began writing a seal on his left hand, leaving his palm empty of any ink, as that is where he will be cutting his hand for the blood needed to activate the array on the pier. He had the seal done within ten minutes, surprising Kakashi yet again. The one-eyed jonin had never seen Naruto writing a sealing formula before, and so the speed and clarity in which he had done it took Kakashi by surprise. _'Truly his parents' son,'_ Kakashi thought.

"Okay everyone, I'm ready. Please stand back, I don't want anyone getting caught in this if anything goes wrong," Naruto said.

Hinata stepped towards him, "What about you Naruto-kun? Are you sure the seal you made will protect you?"

"No, Hinata-chan, I'm not. I have no clue if it will work, because I don't know who wrote the array on the pier or how. Anything could happen, so please don't come over here no matter what happens." Naruto pleaded with Hinata not to interfere, much to her displeasure.

She hesitated a bit before nodding reluctantly in reply. She walked back over to the rest of team seven, getting reassuring nods from her other team mate and sensei. "Don't worry," Kakashi said. "I have a good feeling about this." Slightly reassured, Hinata could only nod again in response.

After everyone had backed up to a safe distance, or at least what they assumed would be a safe distance, Naruto went to the pier and sliced his palm open, letting blood drip onto the array. He then channeled chakra into his now injured hand and slammed it onto the array shouting, "Kai!"

The seal glowed a brilliant white, shining brighter than the sun for an instant before a massive construct of chakra began to rise up out of it and extend over the water. The force of the release blew Naruto back a few feet. Team seven watched in awe as the construct of chakra kept stretching out over the water towards the island. When it got half way, it stopped. Then the sister seal the Naruto assumed it would have activated with the same glow bright enough for the team to see it all the way on the island. It too had a construct of chakra emerge and stretch out over the water. The two constructs met and solidified into a single object stretching from the coast to the island, with support pillars of concrete and steel extending down into the water. It was a bridge!

Naruto got his wits together and shouted back to his team, "Hurry! We have to cross now! It will only be here for ten minutes!" And so the team ran at full speed. Well, full speed for the genin. Kakashi just jogged a bit at their pace, not needing to go at even a tenth of his true speed to keep up with the young trio.

They made it across in only half the time the bridge would be there. they stuck around for the remaining five minutes so Naruto could make sure that his analysis was correct. It was. After the remaining time, the bridge disolved into chakra before the concrete and steel dispersed into the seals. The chakra that bound it all together dispersed into the environment. They didn't know it, but the seal actually converted the chakra into natural energy when the bridge was dispersed.

The team turned around and faced the treeline. Just as Kakashi predicted, the undergrowth was a wild mess. This would take a while. The team began to do just as Kakashi had told them before, they stuck together and scoured the coast for a good location to set up their camp. There was no telling how long they would be on this island. They had only been out of the village for maybe half a week, but they could end up searching the island for months before they found what they were looking for.

As for Kakashi, from here on out, he was running just as blind as his genin were. He had never been on the island before. He only hoped there wasn't anything that his genin couldn't handle waiting for them on this island. If so, he knew he could protect them, but it could hurt their moral. A dangerous thing to happen on a mission as long as this one might end up being.

 **A/N: Hope you all enjoyed. Keep those review coming, they are shaping this story just as much as I am. I will have my 'poll' open for about 4 more chapters, so don't forget to vote on the gender and personality of Kurama. How's he/she going to act. Is Kurama going to hate his/her containers? Get along? Help/train them? It's up to you, the readers. Next chapter should be posted in a week or two. Until then, Ja Ne.**


	12. Searching the Island

**I'm sorry it took so long to update, but everyone was asking for longer chapters and I did my best to comply. SO, here I present a longer chapter. I hope you all enjoy. Please leave a review letting me know what you think! They help keep me motivated and keep my muse running.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I only own my original plot that I can only hope you enjoy.**

Searching the Island: The Many Mysteries of Uzu

'Two weeks,' Naruto thought. 'Two weeks and nothing. We haven't even found the village in the dense jungle yet.' He looked around at his team and asked, "Kakashi-sensei, isn't there a way to make finding the village easier? We've been combing the island for two weeks hiking through this dense jungle and have yet to find the ruins of a single building."

"Mah mah, Sandaime-sama did tell us it could take a few months." Kakashi calmly replied. "At least it's an island jungle and isn't horribly humid and muggy all the time. Just think of it this way, it could always be worse." Kakashi flashed his infamous eye-smile.

Naruto couldn't really argue with that, so he let it drop. He didn't want to argue with his sensei, Kakashi was an elite jonin after all. And so he, along with the other two genin, went back to his search. Naruto was thinking back to when he first stepped onto the island and was excited to find the village, he had activated his Byakugan, planning to lead his team there quickly. However, he ran into a problem and hasn't tried since.

 _Flashback: Day one in Uzu no Kuni_

 _"Well, welcome to Uzu no Kuni. The home of my clan and ancestors. Let's get started," Naruto said. "_ _ **Byakugan**_ _," he muttered as veins bulged on either side of his head. Immediately he cried out in pain, his eyes deactivating instinctively._

 _"Naruto!" The rest of his team shouted at the same time, rushing up to him to see what was wrong._

 _"What happened?" Kakashi asked as naruto began to settle down. Right as the pain fully vanished, Naruto sat up and muttered to himself._

 _"Note to self," he grumbled. "No Byakugan for a while." His team being in close proximity to him had heard what he said. He looked up at them and explained. "The island is laced with chakra so dense it hurt to look at. It was blinding." He looked to adopted sister/best friend, "Don't activate yours. It hurts worse than you can imagine." Hinata nodded once in response._

 _End Flashback_

"Kakashi-sensei, are you sure there isn't a better way to find Uzushio?" Naruto grumbled again. This jungle was really starting to get on his nerves.

Kakashi sighed and stopped, causing his genin to stop as well. "There will always be better ways to do something, the problem is finding what they are. Here's a life lesson for you, If you're dealt a bad hand, you have two options. First, you fold. You give up and accept defeat." Naruto grumbled hearing that. "Or Second, you can take a poker face, put forth your chips, and press on. I'd rather take the second option and press on. I don't know about you, but I don't like to give up just because it seems hard."

Naruto thought for a moment before looking at Kakashi and nodded once, accepting his sensei's advice. And so Naruto trekked on, leading his team through the jungle. They hadn't split up because only an Uzumaki can safely pass through this jungle, or anywhere on this island for that matter. There was no telling how many seals were still active around the island nation of Uzu. And so, they took no chances by sticking together.

For hours and hours they walked through the jungle. For days and days they searched for the ruins of the village with no luck and no signs of any kind. Luckily there was plenty of edible plants and even some game to hunt for food. There were plenty of clean fresh water springs and streams around as well, so thirst wasn't an issue.

Two more weeks had gone by. After one month on the island they still hadn't had any luck. They hadn't found any clues or signs. They hadn't had a single breakthrough or revelation to speak of. And so team seven was once again walking through more sections of jungle. This island really was massive, as they had been here for a month and had barely searched half of it.

"Hinata-chan, I'm going to try my Byakugan one more time. Keep an eye on me in case I pass out or something?" Naruto asked her. She nodded in reply, taking up a position next to him as he closed his eyes. He took two slow, deep breaths before opening his eyes and muttering, " **Byakugan**." Channeling as little chakra as he could with his higher control, he minimized how much chakra his eyes would see.

It still wasn't enough, as he immediately shouted out in pain and collapsed to his knees, once again deactivating his eyes on reflex and instinct. Hinata grabbed him, keeping him steady and preventing him to fall on his face. "Naruto-kun," she whispered. "Please don't do it again. It's not worth the pain."

Taking shaky breaths as he tried to regain his composure, Naruto nodded at her, a silent promise not to do it again. After another few moments Kakashi and Sasuke approached the pair and helped them to their feet.

"Let's get back to the search," Naruto said, to which his team could only nod. Though no one voiced it, they were all equally annoyed at the fact that they had found nothing. Not even a broken piece of concrete or stone masonry to indicate that a village was ever on the island.

 _'What's going on?'_ Kakashi thought. _'Even with a jungle this thick we should have found at least SOME kind of sign by now?'_ The rest of team seven were all having similar thoughts. They stopped for the night and set up a small camp, as they had done every night for the past month when they were too far from their base camp on the beach. They decided that they didn't really need to set up a watch most nights as there were no predators on the island large enough to cause any of them problems of any kind, and it wasn't possible for anyone not of Uzumaki blood to even get on the island unless they were with an Uzumaki. And as far as they knew, there could only be a handful of the clan left spread across the Elemental Nations.

After a few hours, Naruto got up and wandered a few meters into the jungle. He was unable to sleep and needed to think, though he never went far enough into the jungle to be out of range of the camp. He could see the fire they had set up and kept within range.

 _'I just don't get it,'_ he thought to himself. _'A month should have been plenty of time to find the ruins. It's like the whole place never existed at all. That's just not possible is it?'_

Naruto heard movement from behind. When he turned around he saw Hinata walking up to him slowly, so as not to wake the others. "What's wrong Naruto-kun?" She asked.

"

It just doesn't make sense to me. A solid month without a single trace of Uzu? Something is going on here and I don't like it."

Hinata frowned, giving his words much consideration. "I don't know, Naruto-kun. Maybe we just aren't on the right part of the island yet. We'll find it."

Naruto only nodded, staring off into the distance as he stood deep in thought. "Come, we should be returning to our tents. Sleep would do us good."

Hinata smiled at him, "hai."

The next day was a break day. They had a few of these spread throughout the month, about one a week. On these days they wouldn't trek through the jungle. They would instead make a small clearing and train or spar. It was to keep their minds and eyes sharp when they returned to the search the next day.

Sasuke was sparring with Kakashi, as the sensei instructed the student on the finer points of his Taijutsu style, the Uchiha's Interceptor Fist. Naruto and Hinata were just outside the clearing sparring as well. They were sparring in the trees, jumping from branch to branch while striking at each other with the gentle fist. This would not only train their taijutsu, but would also help improve their agility, flexibility, strength and chakra control. This is mainly because of the precision of the gentle fist combined with fast paced tree climbing and tree jumping. With so many places to strike from the fight was more three dimensional than a normal spar would be.

Both had their Byakugan active, veins bulging on either side of their heads. Hinata jumped from a low branch up to one higher on the tree, flipping upside down as she did so. Her feet touched the tree only briefly before she used chakra to enhance her kick off and sending her speeding at Naruto, who was standing on the side of the tree.

Naruto saw the strike coming and the speed it was coming at him. With only a fraction of a second to decide, he jumped off of the tree and barely dodged the strike aimed at him. At Hinata's light touch, the tree bark shuddered slightly as a small but precise hole was made in it's surface. Barely any damage could be seen on the surface, but with their Byakugan they could clearly see the mangled mess that the inside of the tree became upon that strike.

Naruto landed on the next tree over, kicked off, and lunged at Hinata with his own counter attack. Sticking to the tree, Hinata coated her palms in chakra and blocked the rapid succession of strikes that Naruto unleashed on her upon landing on the side of her tree. Naruto overextended one of his left palm thrusts and Hinata took advantage of his mistake, poking several places on his arm and shutting his Tenketsu, or chakra points. Five Tenketsu were closed before Naruto was able to regain his balance and leap back from her.

He landed on the ground with a slight grunt, his left arm hanging at his side numb and useless. Hinata hopped down from the tree and landed in front of Naruto, taking up a modified gentle fist stance. Naruto recognized it as the one Hinata had been developing for a few years now. It was called Jyūho, or the Gentle Step. Instead of the standard stance of the Jyūken, her palms were slightly lower with her feet spread a little further apart. It was a more fluid stance to be sure.

Naruto poked his own Tenketsu with his chakra enhanced fingertips to reopen them. Painful, yes, but so very useful. Hinata simply stood in her stance and waited. This was it, the first real field test in an open spar. This would be the first time she used her recently completed Jyūho against someone. And so Naruto took up the standard stance.

They stood there, staring at one another, analyzing each other from head to toe with their Byakugan, looking at each Tenketsu. They watched each other's breathing patterns, looking for the slightest change to indicate an offensive move. They watched each other's muscles, waiting for the contractions that would signify movement.

A lone leaf was floating down between them, courtesy of Kakashi, who had finished with Sasuke and was now standing off to the side and out of their immediate vicinity. He and Sasuke waited for the first move, watching and analyzing with their own doujutsu. The leaf landed on the ground and signaled the start of the true match. Gentle Fist vs. Gentle Step.

The two Byakugan wielders raced forward, meeting where the leaf had landed. Naruto struck out with a series of palm thrusts as Hinata matched the first few. But then, out of nowhere she started... dancing? around the strikes. That was the only way to describe her graceful movements as she avoided each thrust by only centimeters. It seemed so close to the two watching, but to Naruto it may as well have been the length of the Elemental Nations. He knew she was doing it on purpose.

It was elegant. There was no wasted energy as she dodged each strike only the necessary amount. No more, no less. Only moments later she did something unexpected, she lunged forward with a kick enhanced with chakra. But it wasn't a kick of strength. No, what she did was release a small burst of chakra similar to a palm thrust. Her foot had barely touched him, right on his outer thigh. But that small touch was all she needed to shut down more than one Tenketsu, and effectively numbing his leg.

His leg gave out as he began to fall. Right to Hinata. Who had her palm outstretched. _'Not good!'_ Naruto thought. He thrust out with his arms, pumping chakra into the movement in an attempt to use a bastardized version of the Air Palms technique he had heard about to push him backwards. It didn't work. And so he ended up on his face in front of Hinata who had her fingers inches from his spine, without chakra of course. She stood there for a moment before standing back up.

Naruto, who had seen the whole thing with his Byakugan, knew he had lost. He groaned as he rolled over to see Hinata smiling down at him. "Wow, Hinata-chan. That was an incredible move. How did you do that? The feet are the hardest place to be precise with chakra, that's why it's not in the Jyūken."

She just smiled down at him and extended her hand out to him. He took it and she helped him to his feet. His leg was still numb and wouldn't take weight, so he had to lean on her. "A lot of practice," was her eventual reply. "I've incorporated a number of kicks into my Jyūho, actually."

"Really? That's incredible. Won't Hiashi-tousan be surprised when you show him!?" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

Hinata nodded, "Hai! I think it's finally ready to show him. I'll show him the day after we get back." It was at that moment that Kakashi and Sasuke decided to approach.

"Well, that was very well done. I couldn't help but overhear, did you say you created that taijutsu style Hinata?" Kakashi asked.

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei. It has been very difficult. But father said it would be the best thing for me since my affinity doesn't coincide with any of the existing Jyūken styles and sub-styles." Hinata explained to him about the various different styles that the Hyuuga had, without going into specifics. By the end of the explanation Kakashi couldn't help but agree that it was probably the best thing for her.

"Well, I'm proud of you, all three of you. You have all come so far and are on track to being great Shinobi and Kunoichi respectively." Kakashi looked at the three of them, guaging their progress before deciding. "I think I may have you three enter the chuunin exams in four months. They are being hosted in the leaf village this time. Though, these exams will probably be the biggest and hardest ones yet. You'll see why," he said mysteriously.

Team 7 headed back to their little camp and sat around the fire while Kakashi told them stories about the last war and of his past. Nothing too personal. And he never used anyone's names. But he always had a lesson hidden in each story and he would always ask them what the lesson was. He wouldn't tell the next story until one of them could point out what they were meant to learn from the last one.

Another week passed by like this, with constant searching and a rest day that was used to improve one of their many skills. The last one was focused on Ninjutsu, as Kakashi was an expert in that field.

Today was the worst day yet though, as nature decided to let loose the heavens in a torrential downpour. The clouds had been rolling in with increasing winds for two days. They didn't know it, but they were about to be caught in a monsoon. When the rain started, they all took shelter as best they could under the largest and most sturdy trees. Kakashi used an doton jutsu to make a dome in front of them almost like an igloo of stone. He then followed it with a katon jutsu to bake the stone and dirt on, under and around the hut to waterproof it. Once it was done they all went inside and tried to wait out the storm.

After only half an hour the water on the ground was up to their shins. It was slowly starting to enter their little dome through the entrance that they didn't close so that they didn't run out of air. Kakashi used another doton jutsu to raise the dome up from the ground on a platform that stood nearly half the height of a sakura tree.

Two days later and the storm was still pouring. Having decided long ago that it was a foolish idea to go outside, they had remained in the dome nearly the whole time, only leaving to answer the call of nature. "Well," Kakashi started, "At least we know why we haven't found any ruins yet. If the island has been getting storms like this for the past twenty-plus years, it's likely that it has all been washed away. We'll continue to search the island when the rain stops, but if we don't find anything by the time we reach the far coast I'll call the mission there."

The three genin nodded, showing they understood what he was implying. They didn't want to fail their first C-rank mission, but if there was nothing there then it was outside of their control. And so they waited. And waited. And waited. For three more days the storm flooded the island. But finally, after five days of non-stop torrential downpour, the storm ended.

They left the dome and stood on the six feet of water that covered the ground, though it seemed to be draining rather quickly. From what they could see, it would only be about six hours until the water was gone. But, that wasn't possible, was it? And how could an island flood like that in the first place? Wouldn't the water just drain into the sea? The longer they were on this island, the more impossible it all seemed and the more questions that arose. Some would be answered by the end of their trip, but others wouldn't be answered for many years. Not that any of them knew that though.

"The water seems to be flowing this way, let's check it out," Kakashi said while walking alond the slow current. They followed the current for about an hour, noticing the rapid decrease in the water's height as they went. When they finally found the cause of the current they noticed that the water seemed to be draining into a cave. All of it. Across the whole Island.

"Wait... what?" Naruto said. He groaned in exasperation. "This whole place just keeps getting stranger and stranger. I don't understand this place! GAH! I wishi I could just look around with my Byakugan. I don't understand how we haven't found any trace of a village ever existing here. I don't understand how the whole Island seems laced with a thick, potent chakra. I don't understand how an Island can flood and drain so quickly. I don't understand how said flood can drain into one small cave entrance. And I most certainly do not understand HOW MY ANCESTORS COULD LIVE HERE!"

Kakashi just chuckled at his student's antics. "That's just how the world is, Naruto. There are things out there that defy all logic, but they exist none the less. It's just one of the many things you will have to learn to accept as a Shinobi."

"Yeah, well, I don't like it." He said stubbornly.

Again Kakashi chuckled at him, but his laughter was cut short as they heard a loud **CRACK**. Then another. "What was that?" Sasuke asked.

 **CRACK.**

 **SNAP.**

 **RUMBLE.**

The ground started shaking and a large crack appeared in the gound near them. The crack grew wider and wider as it extended until it was a chasm which seemed bottomless. Or at least they couldn't see the bottom. Even though it was noon and the last of the clouds had drifted away. Middle of the day, sun shining straight down, and yet they could not see the bottom of this chasm that opened next to them.

 **RUMBLE**

 **CRACK**

 **RUMBLE**

The ground next to the team gave way and chunks of rock fell in. Team seven heard a scream as they turned to the side and saw Naruto fall into the chasm, horror on all their faces and fear written on Naruto's clear as day.

"Kakashi-senseeeeeeeeeeeeeiiii!" Naruto shouted as he fell into the bottomless whole.

"Naruto!" The remaining trio yelled. Kakashi flashed through handsigns of a doton jutsu to save his student, but by the time he finished them it was too late. Naruto was out of sight.

"We have to save him!" Yelled Hinata.

 _With Naruto_

A groan was heard echoing throughout the cavern as an unconcious Naruto washed up onto a cold stone surface. He had fallen into an underground lake. Normally a fall like that would have killed him, but something had slowed his fall just enough that he survived with no broken bones.

As he slowly regained consciousness from his fall, Naruto looked around only to find that he couldn't see. He started to panic until he used a small E-rank katon jutsu used primarily for starting camp fires and stuff. He could see the flame.

 _Okay, so I'm not blind.,_ he thought. _'It's just very dark.'_ Naruto looked around. He could see about five meters (Around 16 1/2 ft.) in each direction. "Where am I?" he said to himself. He could see only the cold stone ground and the water behind him that he had landed in. He couldn't even see a wall. "I guess I'll pick a direction and start walking."

 _With the rest of Team 7_

" **Doton: Chidōkaku** **(Earth Style: Mobile Core)** " Kakashi yelled, making a platform sink into the ground alongside the chasm. Slowly the platform lowered Team 7 into the pit that thier team mate and friend had fallen into. "Now, when we get down there, we stick together. Understood?"

"Hai," both Sasuke and Hinata said.

"Good, we don't know what's down here. When we reach the bottom, I want you to very carefully activate your byakugan, just long enough to see if the air down here is saturated with chakra like in the jungle."

Hinata just nodded, her focus fully on finding her best friend and adopted brother. After a while the platform finally made it to the bottom as Kakashi released the jutsu panting. It was a lot further down and more chakra intensive than he thought it would be.

While he caught his breath, Hinata did as he asked and activated her Byakugan, finding that the air down here was in fact NOT saturated with chakra. This was good, very good, as it meant that they would have no trouble finding Naruto. "Kakashi-sensei, I can see. My Byakugan is usable down here."

"What do you see," Sasuke asked, as Kakashi was still too out of breath.

"It's a massive cave system. The tunnels are weathered down and look very slick. Further down there is a massive underground lake. I can't see the far side, but all of the tunnels head in that direction.

"Then that's where we'll go." Kakashi said, finally catching his breath. "Though I won't be able to use any jutsu for a while, that doton took too much chakra."

His students took point, Hinata with her Byakugan, Sasuke with a torch he pulled from a storage scroll in his pack. He lit the torch with a small E-rank katon and off they went, to find their missing friend.

 _With Naruto_

Naruto walked for nearly half an hour along the edge of the lake before a thought accoured to him. "Ah! Maybe I can use the Byakugan down here." He had said to himself. Upon activating it, he could see a massive network of tunnels and cave systems. "What is this?" Naruto asked himself in wonder.

He could see that the path diverged up ahead. One path looped around to the other side of the lake, where just on the edge of his visual range he could see the ground start to incline upwards. Just barely in his range also was the rest of his team, headed his way. With how large the lake is, they will take at least a few hours to reach him. He looked to the other path and noticed that it went further down and out of the range of his vision. Naruto frowned. "What else could possible be down here...?" he wondered out loud to himself.

Deciding to meet up with his team, he started along the path that would loop around to meet them. He doubted his team could see him yet, as his range with the Byakugan was further than Hinata's was. Though how that was, they still haven't figured out. With the training method they had come up with for it as kids, their ranges were the largest in the entire clan, but Naruto's was larger still. Pair that with his lack of a blind spot and-needless to say-the elders wanted answers.

Focusing his Byakugan on a different point, Naruto noticed something odd. There was a section of the cave along the path that went down with images and depictions carved along it and coated with a chakra thick enough that he could't see what it was with his Byakugan. Frowning again, Naruto decided to check it out since it wasn't too far out of his way.

After another half an hour of walking, Naruto made his way up to the wall with images engraved along it. He deactivated his Byakugan and pulled a few torches out of a scroll in his pack. He lit them and stuck them in the ground by wedging them between large rocks. With the whole wall illuminated, he knew his team would find him. And so he began to examine the wall.

It was so odd. It looked like a story scroll, except fully opened so that the whole story was seen all at once instead of a little at a time. The first image was of a large object falling from the night sky, judging by the dots he assumed were stars. The object struck down in a large forest and a woman with white hair and blank eyes that looked eerily like the Byakugan stepping out of a crater.

The woman was found by a man leading a small force and taken in where she fell in love with him over time. But it wasn't to last, as the man was the leader of a small nation that was on the verge of war. He sent her into hiding so as to be away from the fighting, as she was a peace loving woman. But she was found by the opposing force and confronted.

When they tried to detain her she released a terrifying power that slaughtered any who tried to harm her. Her hand maiden took hold of her hand and they ran. A few of the opposing force survived and reported to their superior, who was in a conference with the leader of the nation the woman lived in. Upon hearing what she had done, the leader ordered her execution.

So the woman fled to a massive tree known as the god tree. I released the chakra fruit to her as she was its guardian, though that was not known to the rest of the world. Upon eating the fruit, the woman proceeded to slaughter whole armies in mere monents and trapped everyone in the roots of the tree.

Naruto stepped further down the wall and read more of the story images. The woman gave birth to two sons. The sons grew up in peace for many years until they were visited by a small toad who told them to break the law that their mother made and travel to the base of the god tree. It was there that they learned what they thought was the truth. Their mother was using the people to feed the tree and continue to subjugate the world.

The elder brother traveled to the land of the toads and trained in their arts, hoping to gain the power to defeat his mother and rescue the world. When his training was done and he entered the world once more he found that his mother had taken his younger brother's free will. In the end he had to 'kill' his brother to save him. Before he could bleed to death though, he placed a tag on his brother that contained much power harnessed by the toads for many, many years. The energy of the tag was able to heal his brother and together they fought their mother.

The battles lasted for many years. Each time they won, their mother would retreat before she could be sealed. Each time they lost, they would retreat before she could absorb them and their power. In the pictures, Naruto noticed that the woman was always crying. "I wonder why?" he said aloud to himself.

Eventually the brothers managed to win and the eldest brother used his power to create the moon and sealed her body, in the form of a massive ten tailed beast, into it. He then sealed her chakra into himself after splitting it into nine pieces which took the form of nine giant beasts each with a different number of tails.

Naruto's eyes widened when he noticed the last beast as he recognized it as the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Nine Tailed Fox. "These are the nine bijuu!" Naruto exclaimed to himself. "What is this!?" Looking further he noticed that the younger brother decided to reside on the moon and watch over their mother's body, leaving the elder brother to watch over her chakra on earth.

Over the years the elder brother met many people, helping them in any way he could. He build bridges, grew crops, repaired villages. He had many followers by the time he settled down. He eventually had his own sons, who the man raised with compassion and love. But the story did not end there. Naruto was only half way through with the large mural.

Right as Naruto was going to continue reading, he heard a familiar voice. "Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted and lunged at him, embracing him in a hug as he turned around to greet his team. "There you are! We've been looking for you for hours."

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan, but I got sidetracked. Sasuke, I think you'll find this interesting. You too Kakashi-sensei. This is big, I mean really big!" Naruto told them.

Curious at what he found, they all walked over to the mural, and gasped at it's beauty, or at least that's what Hinata did. They began reading and each surprise was like a jolt of electricity through the hear. There was so much information here. What really caught their eyes though, was the Byakugan, Sharingan, and what Kakashi identified as the fabled Rinnegan.

Once they caught up to him, Naruto began reading the rest along side his team. The elder brother, now an old man, gave his two sons a challenge to see who would become his successor. The younger brother won and took over for his father. The elder brother resented his father and brother and left to start his own followers. The Father released the bijuu and sent them to various parts of the world to watch over humanity, as the dying man felt something was coming in the far future. He told them to wait for a boy who would reunite them and bring peace to the world.

But that was not to be for many years. The two sons of the old man went their seperate ways for a time. Their followers became like their family and the brothers granted their power to each of their followers respectively. They fought many times until they passed the fight on to their own successors. These two sides eventually became the clans now known as the Senju and Uchiha. The Senju later split up and became the Senju and Uzumaki. Later down the line, the descendants of the younger son of the white haired woman rejoined humanity on earth and they became the hyuuga clan.

The three genin looked in awe at all the information here. Sasuke was the first to speak. "Wait, I remember reading something that relates to this a while back. The older brother, the one who saved the world, he's the Rikudou Senin, the Sage of Six Paths."

They all looked at the mural once again and took in all of this information. "Wait," Naruto said. "That means that the three of us are the descendants of these figures." He gazed up in awe at their shared lineage. Naruto and Sasuke were direct descendants of the sage, and Hinata was a direct descendant of the sage's younger brother. They were all descendants of this all powerful woman.

The whole time, Kakashi was just silent in awe of this fountain of lost knowledge. Hinata had her own revelation, "That means that the Sharingan, Byakugan and the fabled Rinnegan all originated from the same person."

Sasuke's eyes widened at the realization. "But if that's true, then does that mean any of those clans have the potential to awaken it? If so, why hasn't it ever happened before?"

"I don't know. But you guys are ignoring something else," Naruto said, pointing at the tailed beasts. "The bijuu. If this mural is true, then they are all parts of this woman's chakra split into pieces. That means technically they are her, which means we are all descended from them as well."

Again there were wide eyes around everyone, there was just so much information. So much, and yet they still weren't done reading. "Let's continue," Sasuke said.

The next section depicted the era of the clan wars up to the founding of the village. The mural showed the Shodaime Hokage battling against Madara Uchiha, but what was even more interesting was that the images of the two sons of the sage were overlapped with them with the kanji for reincarnation on their forheads.

Again eyes went wide. But that wasn't all, the mural depicted the first, second and third shinobi wars. The mural depicted the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha with a man standing atop its head battling the Yondaime Hokage, Naruto's biological father. And if that wasn't enough, the mural even showed Naruto and Sasuke themselves, also with the images of the two sons of the sage overlapping them and also with the kanji for reincarnation.

"Wait, what!" Naruto and Sasuke shouted together!

"What the hell!?" Naruto cried out. "Nuh-uh! There's no possible way this mural could be true, because there's no way it could possible know things like this. It just isn't possible."

"Look," Sasuke said, pointing at the next part of the mural. "There's more," he said in awe.

The next part was them training with Hinata, with the younger brother of the sage overlapping her with the kanji of reincarnation. Then after that was the three of them reading the mural.

"Wait," Hinata said. "How could anyone possible know that we would be here reading this!"

No one answered as they looked at the next part. It was an image of them passing out, but that wasn't the weirdest part. It looked like a new image was slowly, very slowly being formed. At it's pace, the next image wouldn't be readable for a year or two. Finally it was too much, as the three genin passed out, falling to the ground just as the mural predicted, Kakashi following their lead shortly after.

 **WOW! Over 6k words later and here we are. So what did you think!? Do you like my little twist. It plays a big roll, as you can all guess. Now I know I may get a lot of negative feedback that I told them who they were this early, but trust me, the farther in the story gets, the more it will make sense why I did what I did. At least I hope. Things always tend to sound better in our heads than they do out loud or on paper. Anyways, until next time. Ja ne.**


	13. A Great Fox

**Another update for you. Chapter 13 done and posted. Didn't really get many reviews on the last chapter. Kinda disapointing, but oh well. Though my views are increasing steadily. In fact, as of right now my views are... wait for it... OVER 9,000! Couldn't resist that one, but yeah, I broke 9,000 views on this story and it makes me so very happy.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Kishimoto-sensei probably wouldn't like some of the twists that would happen to the more... questionable characters.**

A Great Fox

 _Drip._

 _Drip._

 _Drip._

 _Drip._

The sound of water dripping could be heard echoing through what could only be called a sewer. The walls were a rusty brown with blue and red pipes lining the upper walls. They seemed to glow with a bit of power as the red pipes dripped a red liquid that fell to the floor, merging with the water like substance that stood about 6 inches on the floor. The drops left no ripples, but echoed through the corridor.

 _Drip._

 _Drip._

 _Drip._

 _Drip._

Slowly, the sound of falling water woke the two bodies lying on the ground. One a blonde haired boy, the other a blue haired girl. Slowly they rose to their feet, taking in their surroundings.

"Where... where are we?" Naruto said in wonder. Hinata could only shake her head.

"Naruto-kun, this place scares me." Hinata let out a small whimper of fear in her confusion.

Naruto walked over to her, putting an arm around her. "It's all right Hinata-chan, we'll figure this out." He looked around, noticing that the hall only had two directions to choose from. "Well, let's pick a direction and set off. The sooner we get moving the sooner we can figure out where we are. Hinata just nodded.

And so they set off down the hall in one direction, not knowing what lay in their path. After a few minutes of walking the hall came to a crossroads. To the right and left blue pipes led off getting brighter and newer looking. Each path also had red pipes that seemed to be flowing down them, but the red pipes were flowing to them from the center path.

Down the center path only red pipes remained. They led away from the path and into each of the halls to the right and left it seemed.

"This place..." Naruto began.

"...feels so familiar." Hinata continued.

They looked at one another then back at the paths.

"I think we should go right/left," Naruto/Hinata said simultaneously.

Naruto frowned, "I feel the most familiar and comfortable with the right path."

Hinata spoke, "That's odd. I feel most at home and safest coming from the left path..."

One thing they agreed on, they didn't want to know what was down the center hall. It felt dark and sinister. It felt oppressive and stifling. It felt dangerous.

The duo thought for a moment before Hinata spoke first. "Do you think we should split up and see what lies at each end? Perhaps we could find the answers we seek."

Naruto crossed his arms and squinted his eyes, giving him a foxy appearance. He thought for a moment longer before looking at Hinata again and nodding. "Yes, I think that would be best. I would try to use the Byakugan, but I feel deep down that it would hurt worse than it did up on top of the island."

Hinata nodded in agreement before they each turned to their selected path and set off.

With Hinata

Hinata walked down her selected corridor for nearly half an hour. Or at least that's what it felt like to her. As she walked, the blue pipes continued to look newer and newer. Better maintained would probably be a more accurate way to put it. The red pipes still ran parallel to them. They, however, still looked just as ragged as the did when she first woke up. They were still leaking a redish liquid that she didn't feel safe touching. Continuing down the hall, she eventually came to a large square room with massive bars blocking the way half way in. In the center of the bars, or what she now saw was a large barred gate, was a tag with the kanji for seal written upon it.

"Where am I?" she wondered to her self as her voice echoed. The lavender-eyed girl looked past the bars, or at least tried to, and could only see and wall of darkness. She didn't know how far it went, but she'd guess it was massive based on the state of her ehco.

She was just about to activate her Byakugan when a deep voice called out to her from the darkness. **"Hehehe,"** the voice chuckled. **"Well this is interesting. So one of my wardens sees fit to grace me with her presence."** The voice seemed amused, yet almost uninterested as well. **"To what do I owe the honor, Ningen (Human/Mortal)?"** The sarcasm was thick in it's massive voice.

At this point the poor girl was scared, but hiding it well. _'It's a good think I'm not some shy wallflower that faints at the first sign of excitement or nervousness...'_ she thought to herself. "Who are you," she said after taking a moment to steady her voice. Suddenly she saw a massive eye open in the darkness and gaze at her with the brightest crimson iris she would ever see. The pupil was a black vertical slit like a snakes. A massive snake that could probably eat her whole with no difficulty, but a snake-like eye none the less.

" **Oh?"** The voice questioned in false surprise and sarcasm. **"The little girl thinks she's brave does she?"** The source of the voice stepped forward and a massive foxes face appeared behind the bars, teeth larger than her flashing in a malevolent smile. It's fur was a dark orange, almost brown. **"Do you know who I am now?"** the figure asked with feigned curiosity.

"K-K-K-KYUUBI!?" she stuttered out in shock and fear. "B-b-but you're supposed t-to be s-s-sealed!"

The large fox growled in mock-anger and reached his claws through the bars to freighten the poor girl, knowing he could not harm her. With a squeak, Hinata fell on back in fear. It really had been too long since he had been able to terrify anyone. **"Does that tell you anything?"** The fox scoffed. **"You ningen are so naïve at times. What do you suppose these bars are for!?"** he half yelled. He really was having fun scaring her. She didn't know that he was only the yang half, the more positive half of the fox. As such he wasn't reall angry, he just couldn't resist the temptation to have a little fun. Especially after so long trapped in a cage and separated from his other half.

Hinata could only nod frantically, unable to speak and not wanting to offend this ultra-powerful being. Taking a moment to calm herself, Hinata then asked to herself in a quiet voice, "Am I in the seal?" A little louder she repeated the question to the fox, not knowing that he heard her the first time.

Despite her soft-spoken voice, the fox still heard her and contemplated weather or not to answer. **"Yes, ningen. You are in the seal."** The giant foxed gazed down at her with genuine curiosity. _**'How did she calm herself so fast? Especially in my presence? By my very nature and the feel of my chakra alone she should be cowering in fear. Interesting...'**_ Contemplating for a moment he continued, growling his next question with false anger. **"The real question is, why have you disturbed my rest ningen? Answer before I force my chakra through the seal and burn you from the inside out."** Not that he actually could. The seal prevented that, but she didn't need to know that. Besides, scaring people was just too fun sometimes.

"I-I don't know," she squeaked out. "Iwillleaveyoualonenow," she said in a hurry, turning around and sprinting back the way she came. The fox merely chuckled as she fled.

With Naruto

Naruto saw a similar state as Hinata did as he walked through the tunnel until he too came into a large roome with the same gate and seal.

"Huh, this is strange..." he said. He heard a massive growl. He then felt a rush of wind coming from behind the gate along with a malevolent feeling. He saw a massive eye open with a blood-red eye with a vertical slit. It glared at him with pure, raw hatred. It was so strong that Naruto felt as if his entire existence could be snuffed out with merely a blink of this great red eye.

A deep voice called out, **"Come closer."**

On a sort of auto-pilot and unable to control himself, Naruto did just that. Massive white claws sprang out of the bars and stopped a hairs width from his face. Naruto fell back in fear, landing on his butt. He scurried backwards, out of reach of the claws.

" **What are you doing here? Have you come to offer yourself to me? To be my servant? To sell your very soul for the power only I can offer?"** The great voice scoffed. **"As if a weakling like you could ever become strong. You ningen, who see yourselves as so great are nothing when compared to my might."**

 _'I'm glad I'm not some loud-mouth idiot who screams about being the greatest at the top of my lungs, this thing could kill me in an instant.'_ Naruto thought as he pieced all the clues together. I large gate with a massive, red-eyed figure behind it with a 'seal' tag on the gate. Yep, this could only be the Kyuubi. "No, Kyuubi. I didn't come for your power. In fact, I could have gone my whole life without seeing you."

The fox squinted at the insignificant pest in his line of sight. **"Careful, ningen. You don't want to make me angry. I am Hatred. I am Destruction. I am a walking natural disaster with the power to destroy nations and reshape the landscape. Do. Not. Anger. Me."**

Naruto chuckled to himself. "You can't do anything Kyuubi, not while you're in that seal."

" **Is that so? Are you sure? After all, I am sealed in more that one place. I have many options to..."** The great fox trailed off, leaving his veiled threat in the air as Naruto paled considerably. His current complexion could make a certain pedo-snake jealous.

"Leave Hinata-chan out of this," Naruto snarled out.

" **Oh? The ningen thinks he's strong? Hahahahaha,"** The Kyuubi laughed darkly. **"You have guts kid, trying to intimidate me. But know this, no matter what you do, I will escape. The seals weaken every day."** That was technically true, but the rate was so slow that it would be years without any tampering until the great fox could do anything about it. **"I will eventually be able to break through one of the seals. When that day comes, I will kill you both before I turn to your village and take my revenge for sealing me. I am the strongest of the Biju and I will not be denied. Konoha will burn."** The great fox closed his eyes and retreated back into the darkness of his cage.

Naruto turned around and walked back the way he came to meet with Hinata.

 **A/N: Short Chapter, but it's honestly just a sort of filler to set up the next bit. Sorry it took so long, life gets in the way at times, then when I have time to write, my muse likes to fail me... Yeah, sorry excuse, I know. But hey, I do my best. Again, sorry for the short chapter. Will do better next time.**


	14. Return to Konoha and the Chuunin Exams

**Yo, sorry it took so long to update this story. I could give you a whole bunch of excuses, but they'd be just that, excuses. Honestly, I just didn't feel like writing on this one as my attention was on other ideas. I write as my muse hit. Sounds like an excuse still, but oh well. I've never been good at following a schedule. Maybe if I had a beta reader to hold me to a schedule...**

 **Also, I've got a few other stories I'm working on as well. I'm not going to say one story has more importance or priority than another, because they don't. All my stories are equal and I write them as my muse hits.**

 **Anyways, enjoy.**

Chapter 14: Return to Konoha and the Chuunin Exams

The trio awoke to find themselves in back in their tent with light bleeding through the mesh walls. The smell of smoke was faint, suggesting that there was a camp fire burning recently. Opening the entrance to the tent, Naruto looked around to see that they were indeed at their base camp. Kakashi-sensei was no-where in sight, but signs of his passing were present in the camp.

"Okay, I think Kakashi-sensei brought us back up out of that cave system," Naruto said as he turned around to face his friends and teammates.

"Naruto-kun, what happened?" Hinata asked holding her hands to her temples. The events of the cave slowly trickled back to conscious memory.

"I'm. . . I'm not really sure," Naruto said after a brief pause. "It's was strange. Sasuke?"

Sasuke closed his eyes in thought, ignoring the oncoming headache. "The stone was too old to be fake. It holds too much that rings true to be ignored. I don't know how it was constantly growing or even if that's what it was actually doing. In my opinion, the only thing we can do is move on as if we never saw the damn thing."

After a moments thought, Naruto and Hinata both agreed. Just then they heard the sounds of movement in camp followed by a short signal they recognized as Kakashi-sensei.

Hinata stood and made her way to the tent's entrance. "Let's see what Kakashi-sensei has to say."

The trio made their way out of the tent and to the remains of the camp fire as Kakashi began packing the what little bit of equipment was out. "Good morning team," he greeted.

"Morning," the trio said in unison.

"Pack up, given what we found down there, as well as searching this whole island and not finding the remains of Uzushio, I'm calling the mission. Something isn't right here. It's as if all traces of the village were erased long ago. I already sent a summon to the Hokage and got a response. He approves of my decision."

The three nodded and began to pack up. Not knowing what else to do or say about what happened, they worked in silence as they took down the tent, folded it, sealed it and stored the scroll with the rest of the equipment.

Making their way back to the shore, Naruto found the seal for the bridge and activated it. They crossed quickly and when they reached the other side and the bridge resealed itself, Naruto used all his sealing knowledge to place an additional blood seal on top of the one already there. Not only would it require an Uzumaki's blood to activate, it would also specifically need his as well. If there was anything left of Uzushio, he would one day return and find it.

Line Break

The trip back to the village was long and uneventful. The monotony of the landscape and the lack of . . . well, anything of interest, ensured that team seven was completely and thoroughly bored by the time they made it back to Konoha a few days later. After checking in with Izumo and Kotetsu, the Eternal Guards, Kakashi dismissed his team as he went to give his report to the Hokage.

"It's hard to believe that we've been gone for almost two months," Naruto commented while walking with his teammates.

"Two months that we weren't able to train much," Sasuke added.

"Perhaps we should begin our personal training regiments again tomorrow morning?" Hinata asked the two. Getting nods of approval, the plan was set to meet up tomorrow morning to train together like they did before they became an official team. They would more than likely have a week or so off after such a long mission, so they had plenty of time to work on getting back into the full swing of their intense training routine.

As they continued to walk in silence, Sasuke branched off at a side road heading for his own clan compound. Naruto and Hinata continued to walk in a comfortable silence as their thoughts trailed back to what they had seen deep below the island.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked gently to get his attention.

"Hmm?"

"Did you get the feeling that you knew the names of those figures when you were looking at it? Or at least the name of the one who stood behind you?"

"Well... kinda? It's hard to explain. I feel like I _should_ know. I feel like the name is right on the tip of my tongue, but I can't seem to find the sounds." His brow furrowed in concentration. "Asa... Asu... I just can't seem to find it."

Hinata nodded, "I'm going to look up the clan archives of the family tree as far back as I can. I have a feeling there is something I'm missing. It may take me a while though, a few weeks? Maybe a month or two? I'll let you know what I find though. Also, about what happened in the sewer. . ."

Naruto just nodded, pulling his best friend/step-sister into a warm hug. "It'll be okay Hinata-chan. We knew we would meet it sooner or later. We'll figure it out. But later, okay? I don't think we're ready yet."

Hinata could only nod. She knew he was right. But the fear was still there. The fox had simply terrified her.

Line Break

The next morning found the three in their usual training ground for the first time in months. It seemed so much longer than it had actually been. They had decided to treat their failed mission as a two month survival training exercise. In that aspect, they were leagues ahead of the other rookies. Two months in the forest hunting for your meals each day while simultaneously keeping all your senses alert to look for something that may not even be there was damn good training on survival, that much was certain.

They had the next few days off from training as per protocol when a team returns from an assignment longer than two weeks. They could have gotten up to a week and a half off after the time they spent out of the village, but they had all agreed that three days would be more than plenty.

And so here they stood, squaring off against one another in a three-way spar. As the three genin stood rigid in their stances, a single leaf drifted down from a tree nearby. As if willed by some higher power the leaf landed dead center in the triangle formed by their bodies. In the same instant, the three lunged forward in a flurry.

Hinata aimed a straight but fast thrust to her left at Sasuke's sternum. In response, he ducked to _his_ left and dropped to the ground spinning in a sweeping motion aiming to trip Naruto. Naruto jumped lightly over Sasuke's sweep and went for a mid air kick at Hinata, who was pulling back from her thrust.

She leaned back, displaying her incredible flexibility, and Naruto's kick went clear over her head. Continuing his motion he tried to connect with Sasuke, only to have his kick fall short. Before he could recover, Sasuke grabbed his leg and threw him into Hinata. She caught him and slid back a few feet before taking advantage and brought her palm up to Naruto's heart.

"Dead," she said. Naruto nodded and backed out. He knew a gentle fist killing blow when he saw one. If she had used chakra, he'd most certainly be dead within minutes. Sasuke rushed in as Hinata took her palm from her best friend/step-brother's heart. As she turned around and saw Sasuke taking advantage of her back being to him, she dropped into the stance she'd been working on for a few years. It was her Jyuho, or Gentle Step.

The only downside, they had all agreed long ago that they wouldn't use their dojutsus in these spars they had. Without her Byakugan, the Jyuho was incomplete and she could only do so much. Sasuke came in with a flurry of blows that she did her best to deflect away with open palms. She was largely successful, much to Sasuke's continued annoyance. He still couldn't beat her Jyuho without his Sharingan.

With a feint at Sasuke's head, she quickly switched to a thrust into Sasuke's Solar Plexus. Sasuke staggered back and she leveled her hand above his heart before he could recover. "Dead," she said again.

 **Clap.**

 **Clap.**

 **Clap.**

The trio turned to see where the noise was coming from as Sasuke regained his breath. Standing there was none other than Kakashi-sensei. "Good job my cute little genin. You've all got some work to do on your styles, but a good job from all of you none the less."

"What are you doing here Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked. "Don't we have the next few days off?"

"Hmm," Kakashi hummed as he gave his signature eye smile. "You do. But that's not why I'm here. I wanted to drop off these forms with you. I've decided to nominate you for the Chuunin exams coming up in a week."

"Do you think we're ready?" Hinata asked. Kakashi just nodded his head. He handed the forms to them and disappeared in a swirl of leaves without so much as a 'Ja Ne'.

"What do you think? Should we do it?" Hinata asked, looking to her teammates.

Sasuke thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think we should. Even if we don't make it, we can judge how far we've come by how well we do in the exams. That and the experience we would get make it worth it in my mind."

Naruto just nodded in agreement.

Later that night, Naruto and Hinata were having dinner with Hiashi and Hanabi when they decided to let Hiashi know what their team had decided.

Waiting for the last branch member to leave, the family let out a sigh of relief. No more formalities. Naruto decided to get it out of the way and see what Hiashi thinks about their decision. "Ano, Hiashi-Tousan..."

He looked over to Naruto, brow raised in curiosity. "Yes, Naruto?"

"So, Kakashi-sensei decided to enter our team in the Chuunin exams. And we've decided to enter."

Hiashi looked to his daughter, who nodded her head in agreement. Well then," Hiashi began. "Good luck to the both of you and do our family proud." He smiled at the pair of them before asking, "how did your mission go? We didn't get a chance to speak about it last night."

And so the two began the tail of their mission. By the end, Hanabi was laughing at the few funny situations they got into in the forest. Hiashi on the other hand was going over what he had just heard about the moving mural on the wall of the cave below the island. _'Something about that mural seems familiar. Perhaps a look in the clan archives would shed a bit of light.'_

The rest of the night was spent in light conversation with family. Over all it wasn't too bad of a night. If only they knew just how little of that would be to come during the exam.

Later in the Week

The Sandaime had called another jounin meeting. As such, they were all standing in formation in the meeting room of the Hokage Tower just as the meeting was about to start, when in walks Kakashi. . . on time.

Their jaws dropped and their eyes were nearly bugging out of their sockets.

"Mah mah," Kakashi muttered. "You look like you've all seen a ghost."

Before anyone could comment, Hiruzen cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Now I know we've already gone over the nominations for the exams, but I'd now like to let you all know about the special circumstances involved in this one. Originally the exams were to be held here in Konoha, but a few months ago all the applicants from the other villages came in and there were quite a few surprises. So it was decided that the exams would be held somewhere else. You will all receive a packet with the details, but if there are any questions from those who do not have a team entered, now is your only time to ask."

"Well, Hokage-Sama," spoke the only chuunin in the room. As the teacher who graduates the majority of students, as well as the one who assigns missions with the Hokage, Iruka Umino was allowed to attend this meeting. "I'd like to know what the changes are, if that isn't to forward of me."

"Not at all Iruka-kun." The aged Hokage paused to puff on his pipe before answering. "The exams are to be held in a neutral nation as there are too many villages participating for us to accommodate without compromising security, among other reasons. Also, because of the sheer number of prospects the number of rounds of the exams has also been increases. This year will be a five round exam with a proctor from each of the major villages presiding over one of the rounds. Konoha will be in charge of Stage One. Iwa for Stage Two. Kumo for Stage Three. Kiri for Stage Four. And Suna for Stage Five. In two days time, the jounin with a team in the exams will depart with there teams to a secure location which the first round will be held in. The exams will take a few months longer than normal. Anything other than that I cannot share with you at this time. Jounin, prepare your students. Dismissed."


End file.
